EA - Top Idea Reports from the EA Philippines Mental Health Charity Ideas Research Project by Shen Javier

Link to original articleWelcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Top Idea Reports from the EA Philippines Mental Health Charity Ideas Research Project, published by Shen Javier on May 24, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.In October 2021 to May 2022, EA Philippines organized the Mental Health Charity Ideas Research project. The project's goal was to find ideas that can become highly impactful and cost-effective charities in improving the well-being of people living in the Philippines and other low- to middle-income countries. It focused on children and adolescent mental health.This was a follow-up to the participation of Brian Tan and myself in Charity Entrepreneurship’s 2021 Incubation Program, in their region-specific track for training people to research the top charity ideas in a region. The project was awarded $11,000 in funding from the EA Infrastructure Fund in 2021 for 1.2 FTE in salary for the project for 8 months. Brian transitioned to being an advisor of the project early on, and AJ Sunglao was brought on as a part-time project co-lead, while two part-time researchers (Mae Muñoz, and Zam Superadble) were also hired.Links to our reportsWe already held a brown bag session last June 11, 2022 discussing the research process and introducing the top four charity ideas we found last year. Now, we share deep reports on those ideas that detail the evidence supporting their effectiveness and how one might implement the charities in the Philippines. We also share the shallow reports made for the other top mental health interventions.Access the reports here:Deep ReportsSelf-Help Workbooks for Children and Adolescents in the Philippines and Low-to-Middle-Income CountriesSchool-based Psychoeducation in the Philippines and Low-to-Middle-Income CountriesGuided Self-Help Game-based App for Adolescents in the Philippines and Low-to-Middle-Income CountriesShallow ReportsHere’s a quick guide to our top ideas:Idea NameDescriptionCost-Effectiveness ($ per unit, total costs)Self-Help Workbooks for Children and AdolescentsThis intervention will develop and distribute self-help workbooks to improve depression and anxiety symptoms in children and young adolescents, particularly 6 to 18-year-olds. Depending on the severity of mental health disorders, the workbook can be accompanied by weekly guidance by lay counselors through telephone, email, social media, or other available platforms.School-based PsychoeducationThis preventive approach entails training and supervising teachers to deliver psychoeducation on mental health topics in their respective schools. Through weekly participatory learning sessions, students would learn to apply positive coping strategies, build interpersonal skills, and/or develop personal characteristics that would empower them to care for their mental health and navigate important life transitions.Guided Self-Help Game-based App for Adolescents The intervention is a self-help game-based mobile application for help-seeking adolescents aged 12 - 19 years old. As a self-help format, the app aims to teach service users concepts and skills that will aid them in addressing MH concerns. The content of the app will be based on evidence-based therapeutic modalities. The game-based format is used to enhance service user engagement and prevent dropout. Youth-led Mental Health SupportThis intervention is a community-based intervention for adolescents aged 13-18. It uses task-sharing principles in delivering basic para-mental health support by training community members like SK officials and student leaders in basic mental health skills such as psychoeducation, peer counseling, and psychological first aid. The content of the training would be based on other community-based interventions like Thinking Healthy Programme, PM+, and Self Help+.$2.67 per WHO-5 improvement$85.93 per GSES improvement$69.47 per SWEMWBS impro...