An Approach from Theory to Practice: Capacity and Capability Building for Addiction Professionals in Pakistan
Healthy Brain Domain at Out of Box Consulting (OOBCON), Pakistan, Clinical Psychologist at Nabta Health Clinic, United Arab Emirates UAE.
Senior Clinical Psychologist at Mayo Hospital Lahore, Mentor & Advisor at OOBCON (Pakistan).
Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Psychology, Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore Pakistan.
Healthy Brain Domain at Out of Box Consulting (OOBCON), Pakistan, Clinical Psychologist at Nabta Health Clinic, United Arab Emirates UAE.
Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Manchester, Mentor & Advisor at OOBCON (UK)
Director, Institute of Applied Psychology at the University of Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.
Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Psychology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan.
Abstract
Background. In Pakistan, there is no formal short courses have been introduced by the public sector universities. Although different pieces of training and series of training related the addiction by different addiction professionals have been introduced from different platforms. The Institute of Applied Psychology, University of Punjab (Public sector university), Lahore with the collaboration of ?Out of Box Consulting-OOBCON? (a private organization working on the domain of mental health) has introduced a short course for capacity-building addiction professionals. We aim to describe the process of designing and implementing the short course under the supervision of International and National mentors. Methods. OOBCON and IAP-PU mutually collaborated and developed the course while following the different stages. The pre-survey has been conducted before designing the course to get the suggestions and expectations of the addiction professionals. We used three phases for the development of the curriculum used in different studies for collaborating and capacity-building activities. The first is ?Networking? which includes six subdomains. Secondly, Planning, Identification, Structuring, and Approval of the Short course, and at the end, the Implementation, Monitoring, and Evaluation Phase. We modified current best practices, outlines, and curricula to be context and resource appropriate in Pakistan. Results. We successfully developed and implemented a 3-month short course consisting of 44 hours including both theory and practical work. The total number of students enrolled (N=10) in the course. The pre and post-analysis result showed a significant outcome in the knowledge and practical approach of the students dealing with addiction clients. The main lessons learned are the importance of a practical approach to and to ensure the sustainability of the project; clearly defining the scope of practice before curriculum development; and concurrent development under the mentorship to better address the logistical barriers of implementation. Conclusion. We have successfully developed and implemented a short course for capacity building in the field of addiction and its management.
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