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Background Observational evidence suggests that befriending interventions provided by the lay mental health workers, when trained and supervised by experts, are effective in enhancing social support, wellbeing and reducing depression. We carried out a telephone intervention for youth, recruited from DDUGKY (Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana), a central government funded skill development project in India.Methods We performed an exploratory trial in Kerala, India, between 29th July, 2020 and 26th August, 2020 with pass out students of DDUGKY. From a total of 1036 students, 498 fulfilled the criteria and were recruited for the program. We randomized the participants via a computer generated randomization list. Out of 498 eligible participants, 251 were randomized to the intervention group and 247 to the general enquiry call group. Total of 439 (89%) participants, (251 (100%) = intervention arm and 188 (76%) = control arm), completed follow-up assessment after one month. The primary outcomes of the study included depression, measured by Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and wellbeing, using WHO Wellbeing Index; while secondary outcomes included social support from friends and family.Results Analysis was done for 439 pass out students who completed one-month intervention. Befriending intervention was effective in increasing the wellbeing (p=0.000) and social support (p=0.008) in the intervention group. Regression analysis revealed that befriending intervention is associated with notable changes in support from significant others (OR: 2.91, P=0.005), support from family (OR: 2.47, P=0.013) and support from friends (OR: 2.52, P=0.007).Conclusion Befriending intervention was found successful in improving overall wellbeing and social support among student participants of the programme. Large-scale transformational efforts to secure country’s mental health service pipeline is possible by integrating this intervention into existing DDU-GKY institutional and program eco-systems. Task shifting and sharing strategies can be effectively employed to improve the mental health outcomes of the people especially during a community crisis. Trial Registration Clinical Trial Registry India; ICMR-NIMS (Registration Number: CTRI/2020/07/026834), prospectively registered (Registration date: 27th July 2020) , http://ctri.nic.in/Clinicaltrials/showallp.php?mid1=45953&EncHid=&userName=CTRI/2020/07/026834 |
