Background: Mental wellbeing is an essential component of population health.
Certain populations (or priority groups), experience poorer mental health, particularly
those exposed to adversity. Community-based mental health promotion initiatives
(CBMHPI) can empower community members, build social connectedness, reduce
inequities and improve mental wellbeing, including for priority groups. In the Irish
context, a policy to practice gap has been identified in the provision of CBMHPI for
priority groups. Act Belong Commit (ABC) is an evidence-based CBMHPI developed
in Australia and has been adapted and delivered in other countries, including among
priority groups.
Aim: To assess the feasibility and impact of the ABC community mental health
promotion initiative on the mental health and wellbeing of priority groups in Irish
community settings.
Objectives: To: co-adapt the ABC initiative with priority groups; ascertain how the
ABC initiative works in the Irish context through co-developing a programme theory;
evaluate the implementation process; assess the impact of implementing ABC for
participating priority groups and community organisations; inform the scaling-up of
ABC nationally.
Methods: A community participatory research approach, employing a mixed-methods
study design, will be used to test the implementation and impact of ABC with 120
purposively recruited priority group participants and community organisations from
across six sites in two communities. Peer-researchers will be involved in data
collection and analysis at baseline and 6 months follow-up, with evaluation measures
aligned to the RE-AIM framework.
What the work is expected to establish: Through the involvement of priority groups
in mental health promoting activities, it is anticipated that ABC will improve their
mental health literacy, beliefs and behaviour, mental wellbeing and social
connectedness. ABC will also increase mental health promotion capacity in
community organisations and address the identified gap in community provision for
priority groups. The findings will inform scale-up nationally and strengthen the
international evidence.
