Setting and study design
epilepsy, type-2 diabetes, asthma, depression disorder, depression
HYPERTENSION, DISEASES, ASTHMA, EPILEPSY
This study is a part of a randomized controlled trial investigating an evidence-based model of depression care at IC3 in 14 health facilities throughout Neno District, Malawi. The IC3 paradigm represents an expansion of a care delivery system that was historically focused on HIV services alone. Since its inception, patients would travel to clinics on a quarterly basis to collect antiretroviral medications, creating a longitudinal pattern of care into which other chronic conditions could be integrated. Over the past eight years this has been broadened to include screening and treatment for a range of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as type-2 diabetes, hypertension, asthma, and epilepsy [At baseline, 60% of individuals who met study inclusion criteria, including diagnosis of depression disorder (see below), were randomly selected to have a household member interviewed, pending the study member’s consent. This household interview, conducted in the month prior to the participant’s treatment initiation, examined clinical, health, and sociodemographic characteristics of household members in relation to the study participant; the study design is therefore cross-sectional. The study received institutional review board approval from the National Health Sciences Research Committee in Malawi and the RAND Corporation Institutional Review Board in the United States.