National Mental Health Survey of India 2015-16

NMHS
the state teams for data collection. The
guidelines for data collection laid down the
three phases of SMHSA which included
obtaining administrative permission to
gather data, methods to sensitise different
levels of administration to obtain relevant
data / information, steps to identify different
sources of data for different sections of the
questionnaire, data collection mechanisms,
steps to reconcile information from different
sources and most importantly to establish
a method for finalising the data in the
proforma during the consensus meeting.
The guidelines laid down the process of
developing quantitative and qualitative
indicators and the final score card for all
the 12 states. It is essential to underscore
the fact that scoring was done not to rank
the states but to identify the performance
of different domains in a mental health
system, thus enabling progress in different
areas over time.
• Training for study teams
Sensitisation cum training sessions were
conducted based on the feedback and
requests from the NST. These were held
during the first collaborators meeting and
also as e-discussion sessions during the
fortnightly review sessions. They were held
separately for the SMHSA. The sessions
involved explaining the objectives of the
domain or sub-domain, scope of data to be
collected, sources of data, means of resolving
conflicts in case of multiple sources of data
and finalising the data set.
• Data collection process
Permission was obtained from the state
health administrations in the respective
states for undertaking data collection.
A state level advisory committee with
representation from health, public health,
mental health and other functionaries was
constituted and sensitised to this activity to
obtain cooperation from different agencies.
Subsequently the State Mental Health
System Assessment proforma was developed
by the NIMHANS team, which adapted
the methodology as per WHO-AIMS and
WHO Atlas instruments with the necessary
modifications to suit the Indian context. This
was then reviewed and adopted. This was
the revised version of the proforma, which
was discussed with the PIs and Co-PIs of the
12 states during the first national PIs meeting
held at NIMHANS. It was also discussed
in the National Technical Advisory group
meeting and the experts’ meeting.
This proforma was discussed with state
health administrators and study team
members to identify different domains and
sub-domains of the assessment.
The Co-investigator from Community
Medicine or Psychiatry was identified as
the SMHSA coordinator for data collection
and collation and worked closely with
the PI of the state team. The coordinator
in consultation with the NIMHANS Epi
team identified different sources of data as
outlined earlier for completing the proforma
as data on all components was not available
in one single place.
A comprehensive review of literature based
on publicly available information was
completed at the beginning of the study.
During the period from September to March
2015, the MHSA coordinator along with the
PI and the Co-PI collected information on
different components of the proforma. This
was reviewed periodically and jointly with
the NIMHANS team through e-mails and
e-discussions. The missing areas, incomplete
information and information which was
found to be unreliable were highlighted
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SMHSA