The Package for Mental and Social Health Promotion and Drug Abuse Prevention in the Health Transformation Plan: Executive Leadership Challenges and Suggestions

The “Package for mental and social health promotion and drug abuse prevention” was developed in response to the importance of, and concerns relate to, the mental and social health in the population. Since any policy and plan needs to be assessed to find its weaknesses, strengths and challenges to ensure its successful implementation, this study aimed to find and explain the executive leadership challenges of this service package from the service providerchr('39')s perspective.

This study was a qualitative research, the data being collected through interviews and reviewing the relevant documents. The research population included experts from Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran, those in charge of the package implementation, urban community health center officials and health care providers. The interviewees were selected using a targeted sampling method.

Based on the interviews, the findings were categorized into four main themes: low public cooperation, difficulty in communication, missing links in design and implementation of packages, and methods of payment to service providers. In addition, the findings based on reviewing the documents were grouped as objectives, plans, activities, target groups, and interventions related to this service package.

Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that the implementation challenges of the mental health care package fall into three categories, namely, policy-making, facilities, and personal challenges. Proper changes and reforms at the public policy-making level, creating individual awareness and providing proper facilities for the implementation of the package can help overcome these challenges.