# Developing a tailored implementation plan for collaborative care of perinatal depression care in community health centers in Vietnam

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2020 · $160,775

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Perinatal depression is a common and serious disorder, with suicide representing a major cause of maternal
mortality, but few women from low and middle income countries (LMICs) receive effective treatment. Effective
models of care that improve perinatal depression and support suicide prevention exist but have not yet been
widely implemented in routine maternal-child care services in LMICs. These models include innovations to
allow scarce specialty care to support high quality care in community settings and so are potentially well suited
to low resourced countries. A major obstacle to achieving the benefits of these models is a lack of appropriate
adaptation to the cultural and health services context of the settings in which they will be delivered. While
evidence based models may work in the context in which they were developed maintaining too great an
allegiance to fidelity without allowing adaptation can result in reduced effectiveness or “voltage drop” in new
settings. In contrast, a focus on flexible adaptation of care approaches has the potential to achieve or even
exceed the outcomes seen in controlled efficacy trials by supporting intervention “reinvention” within the
context of a learning health system. Implementation strategies, in addition to the elements of the health service
delivery itself, must also be appropriate to the cultural and health services context in which care innovations
are to be introduced. We plan to use a participatory approach to systematically identify and adapt key elements
of evidence based models of perinatal depression care delivery to the cultural and health services context of
Can Tho, Vietnam. This federal-provincial city provides health services to a large region of the Mekong River
Delta with over 19 million, mostly rural inhabitants. Over the two-year study period we will first develop a
model, adapted from evidence based approaches, for screening and treatment for women receiving perinatal
care in community health centers as well as obstetric hospitals. Simultaneous exploration of potential
implementation strategies to support and sustain this model in context will be identified along with the creation
of a training and implementation toolkit for this setting. Using these strategies and tools we will then carry out a
pilot perinatal collaborative care study in a public health center and the prenatal care practice of the Can Tho
Obstetric and Gynecologic Hospital. The results of this pilot will be used to revise and enhance the treatment
model and related implementation tools. These will be used in subsequent trials of effectiveness and/or
implementation broadly in the health care system of Can Tho.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10001618
- **Project number:** 5R21MH122345-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** IAN Moore BENNETT
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $160,775
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-01 → 2022-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10001618

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10001618, Developing a tailored implementation plan for collaborative care of perinatal depression care in community health centers in Vietnam (5R21MH122345-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10001618. Licensed CC0.

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