Success at 1st African and Caribbean Mental Health Conference for Black History Month

NTU successfully hosted the 1st African and Caribbean Mental Health Conference on 27th October 2021. Focussing on maternal mental health and child wellbeing, delegates joined academics, industry professionals and prize winners in discussion.

Keynote speaker Dr Dung Jidong from NTU Psychology

Conference delegates were addressed by the four keynote speakers, tackling the overarching theme of maternal mental health and child wellbeing from a range of perspectives.

Dr Dung Jidong (Chief Host/Keynote)

Senior Lecturer and Internationalisation Officer (W-Africa), NTU Psychology - Topic: "Culturally adapted Psychological Intervention for Postnatal Depression in British African/Caribbean and Nigerian mothers: Pilot Randomised Controlled Trials'.

Professor Nusrat Husain (co-host/keynote)

Director of Research, Global Mental Health, University of Manchester - Topic: "Treatment of maternal depression in low‐income women: A feasibility study from Kilifi, Kenya".

Wendy Olayiwola (BEM, FRSA, RM, RN)

National Maternity Lead for Equality Professional Midwifery Advocate Chief Midwifery office NHS England and NHS Improvement - Topic: "Perinatal Mental Health for African and Caribbean women".

Dr Ishrat Husain (co-host/keynote)

Lead, Mood Disorders Service, General Adult Psychiatry and Health Systems Division, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Clinician Scientist, Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, CAMH Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Canada - Topic: "Bipolar Disorder: psychosocial treatment options for low-resource settings".

The conference coincided with Black History Month

There were numerous other oral presentations and poster competitions. Poster assessments and evaluations were led by Professor Imran Chaudhry and Wendy Olayiwola using standardised poster evaluation criteria. The following candidates emerged winners of poster prizes: (Click on each winner's name to view the posters)

1st prize - Tarela Juliet Ike - Teesside University, UK
2nd prize - David Jack - University of Ibadan, Nigeria
3rd prize - Lawrence Mieyebi Ike - Texas Southern University, Houston, USA

Each poster prize winner spoke to Dr Jidong following the conference:

1st prize - Tarela Juliet Ike “I am particularly delighted and grateful that my poster was selected by the Panel and awarded the first prize for research excellence. The conference is outstanding and I really appreciated the opportunity to present my work among a thriving research community whose feedback was highly valuable in further refining my research”.

2nd prize - David Jack “The significance of mental health was reiterated, especially within a cultural context. Specifically, I now have a better understanding of why culturally adapted interventions would prove more efficacious for marginalised populations and low-resource settings. Also, the opportunity to network with global scholars of varying professions was truly an invaluable experience.”

3rd prize - Lawrence Mieyebi Ike "I learnt a lot from all the different speakers in the African and Caribbean Mental Health Conference. It was a fantastic experience listening to people from different cultures speak about different topics of mental health in our environment. I gained a lot of knowledge from this conference and I’m looking forward to the next one".

Recordings of the conference can be viewed via YouTube.

Notes for editors