Poverty reduction, mental health and the chances of young people: understanding mechanisms through analyses from 6 low- and middle-income countries

贫穷与心理健康密切相关。在低收入和中等收入国家，贫困青年发展或维持精神健康问题的风险很高。与贫穷有关的压力和环境条件增加了精神健康问题的风险。此外，精神疾病患者所面临的残疾和高昂的费用可能会维持贫困。目前，对反贫困干预措施的大多数评估侧重于社会经济或一般福祉结果，但很少检查对心理健康的影响。与此同时，全球精神卫生领域的主要重点是改善获得治疗的机会，但很少关注干预措施对未来生活机会和贫困的影响。本研究旨在(1)了解反贫困政策对心理健康的影响；(2)心理健康干预如何影响年轻人的生活机会和贫困风险。为此，我们将使用多种跨学科方法来了解潜在干预措施的成本和影响，以及改善生活机会的相关途径。我们将分析来自六个低收入和中等收入国家的七个不同数据集。我们还将从经济贫困的年轻人的访谈和焦点小组中收集定性数据。定性数据将提供以下方面的信息：（一）贫穷和心理健康问题的经验和意义；（二）参与反贫穷方案或接受心理健康干预措施的个人经历；（三）参与反贫穷和心理健康干预措施的挑战或障碍；（四）对未来干预措施的设想。此外，从项目一开始，我们就将与社区成员合作：贫困青年、服务使用者、保健从业人员和政策制定者。讲习班将帮助我们深入了解如何将我们的研究结果用于开发和测试新的干预措施，例如将精神卫生和贫困方案结合起来。精神健康问题在低收入和中等收入国家经济贫困的年轻人中很常见，众所周知，贫困和精神健康问题的经历可能对成年后产生长期影响。在这一时期提供更有效的干预有助于减少贫穷的影响和/或预防生命早期的心理健康问题，从而增加未来的生活机会，包括受教育和就业的机会。

Poverty and mental health are closely linked. In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), young people in poverty have a high risk of developing or maintaining mental health problems. The stress and environmental conditions associated with poverty increase the risk of mental health problems. Additionally, the disability and high costs faced by people with mental illness can maintain poverty. Currently, most evaluations of antipoverty interventions focus on socioeconomic or general well-being outcomes, but rarely examine the effects on mental health. At the same time, the main focus in the field of global mental health has been to improve access to treatment, but with little focus on the impact of interventions on future life chances and poverty. This study aims to (1) understand the mental health impact of antipoverty policies and (2) how mental health interventions influence the life chances and risk of poverty amongst young people. To do this, we will use multiple interdisciplinary methods to understand the costs and the impact of potential interventions and associated pathways to improved life chances. We will analyse seven different datasets from six low- and middle-income countries. We will also collect qualitative data from interviews and focus groups with young people from economically deprived circumstances. Qualitative data will provide information on: (i) experiences and meaning of poverty and mental health problems, (ii) personal experiences of being involved in antipoverty programmes or receiving mental health interventions, (iii) challenges or barriers to engaging with the antipoverty and mental health interventions and (iv) ideas for future interventions.Additionally, from the start of the project, we will work together with community members: young people from deprived circumstances, service users, health practitioners and policymakers. Workshops will help us to gather insights into how our findings can be used to develop and test new interventions, for example by combining mental health and poverty programmes. Mental health problems are common among young people from economically deprived circumstances in LMICs and it is known that experience of poverty and mental health problems can have long lasting effects into adulthood. Providing more effective intervention during this period could be help reduce the impact of poverty and / or prevent mental health problems early in life, thus increasing future life chances, including opportunities for education and employment.