Global mental health research and practice: a decolonial approach

Eliut Rivera-Segarra; Franco Mascayano; Lubna Alnasser; Els van der Ven; Gonzalo Martínez-Alés; Sol Durand-Arias; Maria Francesca Moro; Elie Karam; Ruthmarie Hernández-Torres; Sebastián Alarcón; Alíxida Ramos-Pibernus; Rubén Alvarado; Ezra Susser

doi:10.1016/S2215-0366(22)00043-8

Global mental health research and practice: a decolonial approach

Eliut Rivera-Segarra^*, Franco Mascayano, Lubna Alnasser, Els van der Ven, Gonzalo Martínez-Alés, Sol Durand-Arias, Maria Francesca Moro, Elie Karam, Ruthmarie Hernández-Torres, Sebastián Alarcón, Alíxida Ramos-Pibernus, Rubén Alvarado, Ezra Susser

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Review article › Academic › peer-review

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Abstract

The global health movement is having a paradigm crisis—a period characterised by a questioning of one's values, goals, and sense of identity. Despite important advances in population health worldwide, global health and global mental health often produce and reproduce power imbalances and patterns of oppression and exploitation that perpetuate the current modern world system (ie, Eurocentric, capitalist, and patriarchal) and its entangled global hierarchies (eg, gender, economic, epistemic, and linguistic). A consensus is emerging to decolonise global mental health, but it is not clear how to move from rhetoric to action. In this Personal View, we aim to share our experiences and the practices developed in the context of the COVID-19 health care workers (HEROES) Study. To do so, we present our HEROES decolonial team approach, which comprises three underlying principles: epistemic justice, pragmatic solidarity, and sovereign acts. We have developed decolonial team practices such as co-creating communication spaces to foster horizontal and equitable dialogue, locating and managing the study database in Chile, and ensuring local teams' rights and access to the data without barriers.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	595-600
Number of pages	6
Journal	The Lancet. Psychiatry
Volume	9
Issue number	7
Early online date	7 Apr 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(22)00043-8
Publication status	Published - Jul 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
ER-S is supported by the US National Institute of Mental Health (grant number: R34MH120179) and by the US National Institutes on Minority Health and Health Disparities (grant number: U54MD007579). EvdV is supported by Veni (grant number: 09150161910016). RH-T is supported by University of Rochester CTSA (grant number: TL1 TR002000) from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the US National Institutes of Health. AR-P is funded by the US National Cancer Institute (grant number: 1R21CA233449). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the US National Institutes of Health or any other funding agency.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd

Funding

ER-S is supported by the US National Institute of Mental Health (grant number: R34MH120179) and by the US National Institutes on Minority Health and Health Disparities (grant number: U54MD007579). EvdV is supported by Veni (grant number: 09150161910016). RH-T is supported by University of Rochester CTSA (grant number: TL1 TR002000) from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the US National Institutes of Health. AR-P is funded by the US National Cancer Institute (grant number: 1R21CA233449). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the US National Institutes of Health or any other funding agency.

Funders	Funder number
National Institute of Mental Health	R34MH120179
National Cancer Institute	1R21CA233449
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences	TL1TR002000
National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities	U54MD007579, 09150161910016
University of Rochester	TL1 TR002000

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Global mental health research and practiceFinal published version, 160 KBLicence: Article 25fa Dutch Copyright Act

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Rivera-Segarra, E., Mascayano, F., Alnasser, L., van der Ven, E., Martínez-Alés, G., Durand-Arias, S., Moro, M. F., Karam, E., Hernández-Torres, R., Alarcón, S., Ramos-Pibernus, A., Alvarado, R., & Susser, E. (2022). Global mental health research and practice: a decolonial approach. The Lancet. Psychiatry, 9(7), 595-600. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(22)00043-8

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abstract = "The global health movement is having a paradigm crisis—a period characterised by a questioning of one's values, goals, and sense of identity. Despite important advances in population health worldwide, global health and global mental health often produce and reproduce power imbalances and patterns of oppression and exploitation that perpetuate the current modern world system (ie, Eurocentric, capitalist, and patriarchal) and its entangled global hierarchies (eg, gender, economic, epistemic, and linguistic). A consensus is emerging to decolonise global mental health, but it is not clear how to move from rhetoric to action. In this Personal View, we aim to share our experiences and the practices developed in the context of the COVID-19 health care workers (HEROES) Study. To do so, we present our HEROES decolonial team approach, which comprises three underlying principles: epistemic justice, pragmatic solidarity, and sovereign acts. We have developed decolonial team practices such as co-creating communication spaces to foster horizontal and equitable dialogue, locating and managing the study database in Chile, and ensuring local teams' rights and access to the data without barriers.",

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AU - Martínez-Alés, Gonzalo

AU - Durand-Arias, Sol

AU - Moro, Maria Francesca

AU - Karam, Elie

AU - Hernández-Torres, Ruthmarie

AU - Alarcón, Sebastián

AU - Ramos-Pibernus, Alíxida

AU - Alvarado, Rubén

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N2 - The global health movement is having a paradigm crisis—a period characterised by a questioning of one's values, goals, and sense of identity. Despite important advances in population health worldwide, global health and global mental health often produce and reproduce power imbalances and patterns of oppression and exploitation that perpetuate the current modern world system (ie, Eurocentric, capitalist, and patriarchal) and its entangled global hierarchies (eg, gender, economic, epistemic, and linguistic). A consensus is emerging to decolonise global mental health, but it is not clear how to move from rhetoric to action. In this Personal View, we aim to share our experiences and the practices developed in the context of the COVID-19 health care workers (HEROES) Study. To do so, we present our HEROES decolonial team approach, which comprises three underlying principles: epistemic justice, pragmatic solidarity, and sovereign acts. We have developed decolonial team practices such as co-creating communication spaces to foster horizontal and equitable dialogue, locating and managing the study database in Chile, and ensuring local teams' rights and access to the data without barriers.

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ER -

Global mental health research and practice: a decolonial approach

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