Professor Atif Rahman MB BS, DipPsych, MRCPsych, M.Res, Ph.D.
Professor of Child Psychiatry and Global Mental Health Primary Care & Mental Health
- Work email Atif.Rahman@liverpool.ac.uk
Research
Research Overview
Rahman’s work has contributed to producing high quality global health research that directly addresses the diverse health needs of the poorest people in Low and Middle Income Countries. Rahman’s group applies these global solutions to the UK’s context to address inequalities in mental health.
Improving access to interventions for common mental disorders globally
Common mental disorders (CMDs, depression and anxiety) are the leading cause of disease burden worldwide. 75% to 85% individuals with CMDs in LMICs do not receive treatment. Rahman’s research led to the development and evaluation of the Thinking Healthy Programme (THP) for perinatal depression and Problem Management Plus (PM+) for managing anxiety and depression in the humanitarian context. Both interventions are now established as first-line interventions for Common Mental Disorders in the global context. THP and PM+ have the distinction of being the world’s first fully manualized ‘talking therapies’ to be incorporated into the WHO’s flagship mental health Gap Action Programme Intervention Guide (mhGAP-IG). According to the WHO, the mhGAP has been implemented in over 90 countries and reaching over a billion of the world’s population. Rahman is an advisor to the WHO on implementation of these interventions globally. In Pakistan where he continues to conduct his primary research, the Thinking Healthy Programme was included in the 2019 President’s Plan to Promote Mental Health of Pakistanis, an ambitious initiative to scale-up THP to the entire country.
Preventing mental disorders in children and adolescents through schools
Sixty-five percent of adult mental health conditions have their onset in childhood and adolescence. Schools can play a key role in prevention of mental disorder. Rahman was commissioned by the WHO to develop a teacher-focussed intervention that could allow early detection and management of common mental health problems in children in the school setting. He has partnered the WHO to successfully evaluate and scale-up the intervention in four countries of the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region through an NIMH-funded programme (SHINE). His group’s research demonstrated the effectiveness of the programme and informed a theory of change for regional scale-up. This has led to the dissemination of the programme in the region.
Reverse Innovation
‘Reverse innovation’, i.e., learning from innovations that are occurring in developing and/or emerging markets and considering how these innovations may be translated into the context of the UK health system, can play a role in reducing inequalities in health-care in populations with unmet mental health needs. Our group has delivered several successful projects using our global ideas, including, providing care to women of South Asian origins suffering from perinatal depression, adult refugees and asylum seekers with untreated depression and anxiety, and disadvantaged women with mental health problems in inner-city settings.
ENHANCE: Scaling-up Care for Perinatal Depression through Technological Enhancements to the ‘Thinking Healthy Programme’.
ENHANCE is awarded through NIHR’s Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation (RIGHT) scheme which funds cutting-edge interdisciplinary applied health research
in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where a strategic and targeted investment can result in a transformative impact.
ENHANCE is a partnership between five countries – UK, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – with the aim to develop and evaluate technological innovations that can be employed to scale-up care for perinatal depression. ENHANCE has developed a digital platform that allows delivery of cognitive-therapy to women with perinatal depression through their peers. This addresses a key bottleneck to the ‘treatment gap’ for mental disorders globally, namely, the limited availability of trained human resource. The digital platform is currently being tested through a randomised controlled trial in Pakistan.
SHARE: South Asian Hub for Advocacy, Research, and Education (SHARE)
SHARE was originally set up in 2012 through funding by the National Institute of Mental Health as a Collaborative Hub with regional institutions and international partners to conduct and implement innovative health research in South Asia, where limited resource to undertake vital research was identified. It has since evolved into a more equal international partnership to foster research and capacity building to tackle a wide range of challenges to human development across the region and beyond. Read more
SHINE: Eastern Mediterranean Partnership to implement the Regional Framework for Mental Health: Going to scale with school mental health
Rahman is the Director and Lead for the School Health Implementation Network in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (SHINE). This is one of 10 Global Research Partnerships for scaling Up Mental Health Interventions in Low- and Middle-Income Countries, established by the NIMH (USA). The programme builds capacity in school mental health in 4 Middle-Eastern countries (Pakistan, Egypt,Jordan and Iran). We assist our LMIC partners to apply for research funding on key priority areas for the region. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/organization/cgmhr/scaleuphubs/school-health-implementationnetwork-
eastern-mediterranean-region-shine
Research Group Membership
Research Grants
Mental Health Research for Innovation Centre (M-RIC)
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE (UK)
January 2023 - December 2027
Randomised evaluation of a preventive intervention for postnatal depression in high-risk populations in Pakistan and Turkey: PREVENT-PND (PREVENT-PND)
MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
November 2023 - October 2026
Centre for Improving Mental and Physical health And building research CapaciTy: Centre for IMPACT
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE (UK)
October 2022 - September 2027
NIHR ARC 2 national social care implementation projects
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE (UK), LCCG - LIVERPOOL CLINICAL COMMISSIONING GROUP (UK)
October 2019 - March 2026
Early life adversities and the emergence of risk and resilience: a longitudinal study of child development
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (USA)
May 2020 - April 2024
Psychological, social & biological predictors of child mental health and development: shared and distinctive risk and protective factors in UK & India
MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
July 2019 - March 2025
Nurturing care for early child development: Using the common elements approach to develop an integrated and scalable intervention for at risk mothers and children in Pakistan
GRAND CHALLENGES CANADA (CANADA)
January 2019 - February 2021
Children of Pakistan
BRADFORD TEACHING HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST (UK)
March 2019 - November 2022
Feasibility study for a proposed trial of an evidence-based low intensity psychosocial intervention delivered by lay therapists for asylum seekers and refugees(PROSPER).
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE (UK)
September 2018 - June 2021
Treating common mental disorders in Congolese refugees in Uganda and Rwanda: Culturally adapting and evaluating the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of community-based sociotherapy
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
September 2018 - March 2022
Cultural adaptation and randomised evaluation of a multi-component school-based intervention for common mental disorder in Pakistani adolescents
ENGINEERING & PHYSICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH COUNCIL, MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
June 2018 - March 2023
Managing Mental Health within the School Environment
ENGINEERING & PHYSICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH COUNCIL
June 2016 - November 2019
Multi Centre RCT of a group psychological intervention for postnatal depression in british mothers of south asian origIn - ROSHNI-D.
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE (UK)
July 2016 - June 2020
An anxiety-focused early prenatal intervention for the prevention of common mental disorders in Pakistan
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (USA)
July 2017 - June 2024
Establishing a NIHR Global Health Cohort in Mirpur
BRADFORD TEACHING HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST (UK)
September 2017 - December 2017
Eastern Mediterranean Partnership to implement the Regional Framework for Mental Health: Going to scale with school mental health. (SHINE)
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (USA)
September 2016 - December 2022
Use of Technology in care pathways to improve early intervention and outcomes for school children between the ages of 5-18 with emotional, behavioural and/or neurodevelopmental needs : A Systematic Review
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE (UK)
October 2016 - May 2017
Psychosocial and nutritional predictors of child mental health: longitudinal study of shared and distinctive risk and protective factors in UK & India. MRC-ICMR
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS (UK)
October 2015 - April 2019
A multicomponent intervention to reduce home-exposure to second-hand smoke(SHS) during pregnancy and postnatal period: Feasibility study and pilot trial. MRC-DBT
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS (UK)
October 2015 - September 2017
Research Fellow for research into socio-cultural issues in mental health: improving access to pyschological therapies for disadvantaged groups.
ALDER HEY CHILDREN'S NHS FOUNDATION TRUST (UK)
March 2010 - February 2016
Health Services Academy links for research and training
HEALTH SERVICES ACADEMY (PAKISTAN)
September 2011 - August 2012
Parent-mediated intervention for Autism Spectrum disorders (ASD) in South Asia
AUTISM SPEAKS (USA)
May 2012 - April 2014
South Asian Hub for Advocacy, Research & Education on mental health (SHARE)
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (USA)
September 2011 - August 2016
Perinatal Depression Treatment and Child Development: A follow-up of the Thinking Healthy Programme.
GRAND CHALLENGES CANADA (CANADA)
May 2012 - June 2014
A collaboration to develop a research programme to promote early childhood development and psychosocial well-being of Pakistani children
BRITISH COUNCIL (UK)
March 2009 - March 2012
Refugee mother baby therapeutic project
NHS NORTH WEST (UK)
January 2010 - December 2013
Impact of Perinatal Depression Treatment on Child Developmental Outcomes: A long-term follow-up of the Thinking Healthy Programme-Peer-Delivered (THPP) intervention cluster randomised controlled trial (SHARE-child) - NIH R01
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (USA)
May 2014 - April 2020
Increasing access and engagement with drug and alcohol services for hard to reach groups in Liverpool
MERSEY CARE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST (UK)
April 2012 - March 2014