Mental Health and Child Development in Societies of Change
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Course leader: Ingunn Marie S. Engebretsen
Professor, Centre for International Health, UiB
This methodological multi-disciplinary course will have mental health in focus. Its research perspective primarily addresses: global health policies on mental health; health system integration strategies; mental health and culture (including bold exposures and risk factors such as forced migration); dealing with extreme burdens (such as war, crime, deprivation, undernutrition and abuse); alcohol and drugs; and child development.
Please refer to the BSRS programme for common BSRS sessions
Course programme
Please refer to the common BSRS programme for the Monday morning programme
Monday 12 June
13:30 鈥 14:00 Introduction to course topic: 鈥淢ental Health and Child Development in Societies of Change鈥
Professor Ingunn Engebretsen (UiB)
14:00-15:00 Introduction lecture: "Measurements of Mental Health in low to middle income countries"
(Uni Research)
15:30-16:15 Introduction lecture: 鈥淭he role of (mental) health in international institutions and globalizing societies鈥
Melf K眉hl PhD Candidate (UiB)
16:15-16:30 Course Logistics, Students Groups, Logistics
Professor Ingunn Engebretsen (UiB) and Melf K眉hl (UiB)
Tuesday 13 June
09:00 鈥 10:30 鈥淩ecognition and identification of ADHD and ASD and associated problems鈥
Adjunct Professor Maj-Britt Posserud (UiB)
11:00-12:30 鈥淩esearching mental health in children in LICs with a focus on vulnerable groups鈥
Researcher Esperance Kashala Abotnes (UiB)
Wednesday 14 June
NOTE: All Wednesday sessions will be taught at Haukeland Hospital and CiH, UiB
09:00-10:30 Research Workshop at Medical Library, Haukeland SH: Systematic Review
Higher Executive Officer Hilde Wedwich
11:00-12:30 Students鈥 introductory presentations based on essays
Professor (UiO), (Uni Research) and Melf K眉hl (UiB)
13:30-15:00 鈥淧reventive Mental Health Programs incl. ICDP. Experiences from Africa and work among Migrants in Norway using knowledge based medicine鈥
15:30 鈥 17:00 鈥淪evere mental health disorders in a global health perspective:聽 Early risk factors and warnings signals with focus on intervention programs鈥
Professor Ketil 脴degaard (UiB)
Thursday 15 June
09:00-12:30 (incl. breaks) 鈥淣eurology, harmful exposures on the brain in LMICs: epidemiology, detection, preventive measures and interventions鈥 (title tbc)
and Ingunn Engebretsen
13:30-14:00 鈥淎n example for cross-cultural mental health research: qualitative research methods to assess differences in the clinical management of bipolar disorder鈥
Christine 脴degaard
14:00-15:00 Group Work
Professor Ingunn Engebretsen (UiB) and Melf K眉hl (UiB)
Friday 16 June
09:00-10:30 鈥淐ulture, Migration and Mental Health: an Overview鈥
Professor Gro Sandal (UiB),聽 Professor David Sam (UiB) and U.S.-based colleagues
11:00-12:30 鈥淐ulture, Migration and Mental Health: Health seeking behaviour in different cultures鈥
Professor Gro Sandal (UiB),聽 Professor David Sam (UiB) and U.S.-based colleagues
13:30-15:00 鈥淐ulture, Migration and Mental Health: Mental health treatment in different groups and different traumas鈥
Professor Gro Sandal (UiB),聽 Professor David Sam (UiB) and U.S.-based colleagues
15:30 - 17:00 鈥淚nternational research progress on and research tools assessing Alcohol, illegal drugs and substance (ab)use鈥
Kjell Arne Johannson (UiB and ), (60 min. lecture, 30 min. discussion)
Monday 19 June
09:00-10:30 鈥淗ealth system integration strategies鈥
Professor Ingunn Engebretsen
11:00-12:30 Group presentations
Professor Ingunn Engebretsen (UiB) and Melf K眉hl (UiB)
(schedule tbd)
Please refer to the BSRS programme for common BSRS sessions
Course literature
Chan, M., Lake, A., & Hansen, K. (2017). The early years: silent emergency or unique opportunity? The Lancet, 389(10064), 11鈥13.
Crowe, M., Inder, M., & Porter, R. (2015). Conducting qualitative research in mental health: Thematic and content analyses. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 49(7), 616鈥623.
Daelmans, B., Darmstadt, G. L., Lombardi, J., Black, M. M., Britto, P. R., Lye, S., 鈥 Richter, L. M. (2017). Early childhood development: the foundation of sustainable development. The Lancet, 389(10064), 9鈥11.
Dahlgren, L., Emmelin, M., Winkvist, A., Lindhgren, M., & Umea虋 universitet. Institutionen fo虉r folkha虉lsa och klinisk medicin. Epidemiologi. (2007). Qualitative methodology for international public health. Epidemiology and Public Health Sciences, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umea虋 University.
Dua, T., Tomlinson, M., Tablante, E., Britto, P., Yousfzai, A., Daelmans, B., & Darmstadt, G. L. (2016). Global research priorities to accelerate early child development in the sustainable development era. The Lancet Global Health, 4(12), e887鈥揺889.
Kashala, E., Elgen, I., Sommerfelt, K., & Tylleskar, T. (2005). Teacher ratings of mental health among school children in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 14(4), 208鈥15.
Kashala, E., Tylleskar, T., Elgen, I., Kayembe, K. T., & Sommerfelt, K. (2005). Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder among school children in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. African Health Sciences, 5(3), 172鈥81.
Kvestad, I., Taneja, S., Kumar, T., Bhandari, N., Strand, T. A., & Hysing, M. (2013). The assessment of developmental status using the Ages and Stages questionnaire-3 in nutritional research in north Indian young children. Nutrition Journal, 12(1), 50.
Lo, S., Das, P., & Horton, R. (2017). A good start in life will ensure a sustainable future for all. The Lancet, 389(10064), 8鈥9.
Machel, G. (2017). Good early development鈥攖he right of every child. The Lancet, 389(10064), 13鈥14.
Marquez, P. V, & Saxena, S. (2016). Making Mental Health a Global Priority. Cerebrum鈥: The Dana Forum on Brain Science, 2016. Retrieved from
Murray-Kolb, L. E., Rasmussen, Z. A., Scharf, R. J., Rasheed, M. A., Svensen, E., Seidman, J. C., 鈥 MAL-ED Network Investigators. (2014). The MAL-ED cohort study: methods and lessons learned when assessing early child development and caregiving mediators in infants and young children in 8 low- and middle-income countries. Clinical Infectious Diseases鈥: An Official Publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 59 Suppl 4(suppl 4), S261-72.
Prado, E. L., Hartini, S., Rahmawati, A., Ismayani, E., Hidayati, A., Hikmah, N., 鈥 Alcock, K. J. (2010). Test selection, adaptation, and evaluation: A systematic approach to assess nutritional influences on child development in developing countries. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 80(1), 31鈥53.
Shonkoff, J. P., Radner, J. M., & Foote, N. (2017). Expanding the evidence base to drive more productive early childhood investment. The Lancet, 389(10064), 14鈥16.
Tsang, T. W., Elliott, E. J., Popova, S., Lange, S., Probst, C., Gmel, G., 鈥 Elliott, E. (2017). High global prevalence of alcohol use during pregnancy and fetal alcohol syndrome indicates need for urgent action. The Lancet. Global Health, 0(0), 74鈥81.
Walker, S. P., Wachs, T. D., Gardner, J. M., Lozoff, B., Wasserman, G. A., Pollitt, E., 鈥 Cohen, J. (2007). Child development: risk factors for adverse outcomes in developing countries. Lancet (London, England), 369(9556), 145鈥57.
WHO | Comprehensive mental health action plan 2013鈥2020. (2015). WHO.
Update is expected
