Ahmed Waqas

University of Liverpool | UoL · Department of Primary Care and Mental Health

The South Asian region, including Pakistan, reports one of the highest rates of perinatal depression. Effective task-shifting perinatal mental health interventions exist and are gaining attention of policy makers, as a potential solution to bridge the existing treatment gap. However, no specific indicators are available to gauge the level of implem...

Background. Maternal Depression is global mental health and a public health priority. Despite the priority, its active detection is still a challenge. We tested the accuracy of an adapted version of the Community Informant Detection Tool for Maternal Depression (CIDT-MD) in rural settings of Pakistan. Methods. Using a single-stage design, trained c...

Background Postnatal depression necessitates timely and effective interventions to mitigate adverse maternal and child outcomes in the short term and over the life course. British south Asian women with depression are often underserved and undertreated due to stigma, language barriers, and cultural barriers. This trial aimed to test the clinical ef...

Cognitive behavioral therapies (CBT) have been demonstrated efficacious in treating perinatal depression (PND). This has been demonstrated in several meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental studies. However, there is a need for up-to-date meta-analytical evidence providing reliable estimates for CBT’s effectiveness in t...

Background: The "Healthy Mother Healthy Baby" (HMHB) study is a phase three, single-blind randomized clinical trial conducted at Holy Family Hospital (HFH) in association with Rawalpindi Medical University (RMU). We aimed to examine the mediators of a specialized psychosocial approach based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy principles, targeting pre...

Background: In Pakistan, the mental health care for persons living with disabilities is insufficient, lacking a holistic approach to address their needs. This research evaluates the adapted PM+’s (IA-PM+) initial efficacy and acceptability in improving mental health among persons living with disabilities, contributing to the integration of mental h...

Importance: Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability often experience persistent challenges related to aggressive behaviour and agitation, highlighting the critical need for evidence-based pharmacological interventions among other strategies. Despite previous network meta-analyses (NMAs), the rapidly evolving lan...

The Thinking Healthy Program (THP) is a multicomponent low-intensity cognitive behavioral therapy-based psychosocial intervention. This intervention has been shown to be clinically effective in perinatal depression (PND) and feasible for implementation in low-resourced settings. It has also been shown to work universally for different phenotypes of...

Background Obesity is a chronic, multifactorial, and relapsing disease, affecting people of all ages worldwide, and is directly related to multiple complications. Understanding public attitudes and perceptions toward obesity is essential for developing effective health policies, prevention strategies, and treatment approaches. Objective This study...

Objective This systematic review aimed to review therapeutic patient education (TPE) programmes in managing psychiatric disorders, considering the diversity in delivering agents, intervention formats, targeted skills, and therapeutic outcomes. Methods Comprehensive database searches, including Web of Science, PubMed, and COCHRANE, were conducted f...

Aims Therapeutic Patient Education (TPE) aims to help patients self-manage their chronic condition over their lifetime, adapting to their evolving circumstances, as well as changes in their condition and treatment. The National Institute for Clinical and Healthcare Excellence underscores the importance of patient education as a crucial part of earl...

Aims Depression poses a significant public health concern globally, characterized by prolonged periods of sadness, loss of interest, and impairment in daily functioning. With over 800,000 annual deaths attributed to suicide, it stands as the second leading cause of mortality among 15–29-year-olds worldwide. To address this growing crisis, various d...

Objective Pregnancy is a complex phenomenon accompanied by biological, physiological and psychosocial changes for a mother. It is also regarded as a stressful life event where a woman’s role, identity and interpersonal relationships are restructured. The present study from Pakistan explores the association of sleep quality and poor sleeping habits...

Objective Pregnancy is a complex phenomenon accompanied by biological, physiological and psychosocial changes for a mother. It is also regarded as a stressful life event where a woman’s role, identity and interpersonal relationships are restructured. The present study from Pakistan explores the association of sleep quality and poor sleeping habits...

Perinatal depression (PND) is a significant contributor to maternal morbidity globally. Recognized as a major cause of poor infant development, epidemiological and interventional research on it has increased over the last decade. Recently, studies have pointed out that PND is a heterogeneous condition, with variability in its phenotypes, rather tha...

Background The lack of trained mental health professionals is a key barrier to scale-up of evidence-based psychological interventions in low and middle-income countries. We have developed an app that allows a peer with no prior experience of health-care delivery to deliver the cognitive therapy-based intervention for perinatal depression, the Think...

BACKGROUND Obesity is a chronic, multifactorial and relapsing disease, affecting people of all ages worldwide and is directly related to multiple complications. Understanding public attitudes and perceptions towards obesity is essential for developing effective health policies, prevention strategies, and treatment approaches. OBJECTIVE This study...

Objective : We aim to synthesize evidence of facilitators and barriers pertaining to implementation of peer led interventions for mental health. Methods : In November 2017, we conducted an electronic search of two academic databases: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) and PubMed. A comprehensive search strategy comprising of s...

Gergana Manolova and colleagues argue for a comprehensive approach to the challenge of treating perinatal mental health conditions in maternal, neonatal, and child health services

Background Chronic disorders are highly prevalent and are a major contributor to death and disability worldwide. Evidence has shown that therapeutic patient education (TPE) interventions are effective in improving a range of biomedical and psychological outcomes for a variety of chronic disorders. This has been demonstrated in scores of randomized...

This chapter describes recent innovations in scaling up of psychological and psychosocial interventions for perinatal mental health and promotion of child development in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We focus on two common perinatal mental disorders, depressive and anxiety disorders, as tracer conditions due to their high prevalence and...

Background Perinatal anxiety is among the most common mental health conditions that have a huge negative impact both on mothers and their children. This study aimed to establish summary estimates of the prevalence of perinatal anxiety and its influencing factors in Mainland China. Methods A systematic search was carried out from nine major English...

Perinatal depression (PND) is a significant contributor to maternal morbidity globally. Recognized as a major cause of poor infant development, epidemiological and interventional research on it has increased over the last decade. Recently, studies have pointed out that PND is a heterogeneous condition, not a homogenous latent entity and a concrete...

Diabetes mellitus (DM) and obesity account for the highest burden of non-communicable diseases. There is increasing evidence showing therapeutic patient education (TPE) as a clinically and cost-effective solution to improve biomedical and psychosocial outcomes among people with DM and obesity. The present systematic review and meta-analysis present...

Objective: The object of this research is to identify growth and geographical distribution of research in the field of perinatal mental health and key research areas. Materials and Methods: We performed a bibliometric analysis on research documents on perinatal mental health from 1900 to 2020. Web of Science was used to download bibliometric data....

Diabetes mellitus (DM) and obesity account for the highest burden of non-communicable diseases. There is increasing evidence showing therapeutic patient education (TPE) as a clinically and cost-effective solution to improve biomedical and psychosocial outcomes among people with DM and obesity. The present systematic review and meta-analysis present...

In low-income settings, ninety percent of individuals with clinical depression have no access to evidence-based psychological interventions. Reasons include lack of funds for specialist services, scarcity of trained mental health professionals, and the stigma attached to mental illness. In recent years there have been many studies demonstrating eff...

Background Adolescent depression and anxiety are among the leading contributors to health burden worldwide. ‘Relaxation Techniques (RTs)’ are a “set of strategies to improve physiological response to stress” and are frequently cited as an active ingredient of trans-diagnostic, psychosocial interventions for scaling-up care for preventing and treati...

Perinatal depression is highly prevalent in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and is associated with adverse maternal and child health consequences. Task-shared psychological and psychosocial interventions for perinatal depression have demonstrated clinical and cost-effectiveness when delivered on a large scale. However, task-sharing approac...

Therapeutic patient education (TPE) aims to empower the patients and their caregivers to effectively care for and manage their conditions. Such educational programs have been shown to improve health behaviors, disease outcomes, and quality of life among different patient populations. The field of TPE has evolved extensively over decades, owing to i...

Task sharing approaches are challenged by the barriers fundamental to the use of non-specialists who lack specialist mental health training required to triage the candidates who could benefit from task-shared treatments. However, these challenges could be offset by using standardized and easy-to-implement algorithmic devices (e.g., nomograms) to he...

Perinatal depression and anxiety account for a high burden of perinatal morbidity, and poor psychosocial functioning. There is a growing interest among the mental health professionals, to devise interventions to prevent this condition. This mixed-methods review presents the evidence for effectiveness of psychological and psychosocial interventions...

L'éducation thérapeutique du patient (ETP) vise à aider les patients à acquérir ou maintenir les compétences dont ils ont besoin pour gérer au mieux leur vie avec une maladie chronique. À travers une analyse scientométrique de la littérature, nous avons identifié les données bibliographiques les plus influentes, relatives à la recherche en ETP, qui...

Importance: Task sharing, the training of nonspecialist workers with no formal experience in counseling, is a promising strategy for addressing the large gap in treatment for depression in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Objective: To examine the outcomes and moderators of task-shared psychological interventions associated with depress...

Therapeutic patient education (TPE) aims to empower the patients and their caregivers to effectively care for and manage their conditions. Such educational programs have been shown to improve health behaviors, disease outcomes and quality of life among different patient populations. The field of TPE has evolved extensively over decades, owing to in...

Background The prevalence of perinatal depression is high and its adverse effects on mothers and infants are extensive. Several studies have explored the relationship between perinatal depression and health-related quality of life (HRQoL), but little is known about the nature and magnitude of this effect. The objectives of this study were to evalua...

Background Adolescent depression and anxiety are the leading contributors to health burden worldwide. ‘Relaxation Techniques (RTs)’ are a “set of strategies to improve physiological response to stress” and are frequently cited as an active ingredient of trans-diagnostic, psychosocial interventions for scaling-up care for preventing and treating the...

Postpartum depression and anxiety are highly prevalent worldwide. Fisher et al., estimated the prevalence of depression and anxiety at 15.6% during the antenatal and 19.8% during the postpartum period. Their impact on maternal and child health is well-recognized among the public health community, accounting for high societal costs. The public healt...

Background: Current diagnostic systems of mental disorders are criticized for their poor validity and reliability, owing to the within disorder heterogeneity and between disorder homogeneity. The issue is important if treatments for mental disorders are to be tailored to individual needs. There is little information in this area on perinatal depres...

BACKGROUND AND AIM: In recent decades, several low intensity talking therapies have been designed for treatment of perinatal depression and anxiety in low and middle income countries (LMIC). Randomized controlled trials have ascertained the effectiveness of these therapies in different cultures and populations. However, research on delineating the...

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Perinatal depression is a debilitating condition, with deleterious effects on maternal health and child health and neurodevelopment. These adverse consequences of perinatal depression are worsened by lack of access to effective treatments in the low and middle income countries (LMIC). The Thinking Healthy Programme (THP) is a mu...

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The impact of perinatal psychiatric disorders on maternal and child health is well-recognized among the public health community. Recognizing the societal impact of these disorders, the public mental health fraternity has shown a growing interest in the development and provision of effective prevention and treatment strategies....

Objective: To determine the prevalence and association of prenatal depression with socioeconomic, demographic and personal factors among pregnant women living in Kallar Syedan, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Methods: Five hundred women in the second and third trimester of pregnancy, living in Kallar Syedan, a rural area of district Rawalpindi Pakistan, were...

Word count: 248 Background The prevalent diagnostic systems of psychiatric disorders are criticized for their poor validity and reliability, owing to the within disorder heterogeneity and between disorder homogeneity. However, little focus has been put on perinatal depression.

Objectives: To synthesize the prevalence of mental and substance use disorders in countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) of the World Health Organization. Methods: The literature search was conducted across several databases in two phases. First, we searched for systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses published before 2014, reporting p...

Postpartum depression and anxiety are highly prevalent worldwide. Fisher et al., estimated the prevalence of depression and anxiety at 15.6% during the antenatal and 19.8% during the postpartum period. Their impact on maternal and child health is well-recognized among the public health community, accounting for high societal costs. The public healt...

Pregnancy can be a colossal change for some women, with the commencement of motherhood possibly generating emotional health problems, including peripartum depression (PPD). PPD significantly affects the parent-child relationship, which is the foundation for the socioemotional development of the child. In this article, we reviewed the association be...

Background: The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) is a short and reliable instrument that assesses perceived social support from the social network of an individual. A previous study in Pakistan among postpartum women has demonstrated a unidimensional factor structure in contrast to the original three-factor structure. The...

Background: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is widely prevalent in the South Asian (SA) population. The syndrome leads to a high risk of premature atherosclerosis and diabetes. Obesity, specifically abdominal obesity, is a central pathological mechanism of disease in this population. Ethnic-specific modified measurements of waist circumference (WC) have...

Common perinatal mental disorders such as anxiety and depression are a public health concern in low- and middle-income countries. Several tools exist for screening and monitoring treatment responses, which have frequently been tested globally in clinical and research settings. However, these tools are relatively long and not practical for integrati...

Introduction It has been well established that depressive disorders including perinatal depression are very heterogeneous, which partly explain the ineffectiveness of available treatments for many patients. Recent innovations in data science can help elucidate the nature of perinatal depression especially the heterogeneity in its presentation. Obj...

Perinatal depression and anxiety are defined to be the mental health problems a woman faces during pregnancy, around childbirth and after child delivery. While this often occurs in women and affects all family members including the infant, it can easily go undetected and underdiagnosed. The prevalence rates of antenatal depression and anxiety world...

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of telemedicine in the delivery of diabetes care in low- and middle-income countries. Methods: We searched seven databases up to July 2020 for randomized controlled trials investigating the effectiveness of telemedicine in the delivery of diabetes care in low- and middle-income countries. We extracted da...

Background: The Multidimensional Scale of Social Support (MSPSS) is a short and reliable instrument that assesses perceived social support from ones' social network. A previous study in Pakistan among postpartum women has demonstrated a uni-dimensional factor structure, in contrast to the original three-factor structure. The emergence of a one-fact...

Background: In Pakistan, almost 30% population is between 15 to 29 years of age, with university enrollment rates of 10–15%. Although there is a growing concern on mental health of university students across the globe, studies from low and middle income countries such as Pakistan are scarce. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of pre...

Objective: This study aims to report the developmental processes and validation of Attitude Toward Nutrition Questionnaire in Arabic language. Results: A total of 173 (response rate = 86.93%) participants responded to the survey. There were a total of 92 (53.2%) nutritionists and 81(46.8%) doctors/surgeons. Principal component analyses revealed...

Objective: This study is the first concerted effort to ascertain factor structure of EPDS using evidence based analytical techniques. It is the most widely used scale for assessing postpartum depression in Turkey, and yet no investigations have been conducted to assess it factor structure. This study was conducted from April 2012 to April 2018 at...

Background The progress and innovation in telemedicine within the middle eastern countries has not been heavily monitored. Therefore, the present study aims to analyze the scholarly work conducted in the Arab world, using reproducible statistical and scientometric techniques. Methods An electronic search of Web of Science (WoS, core database) had b...

In the original article, there was a mistake in Table 1 Pooled prevalence of mental disorders in South Asia as published. Prevalence estimates of five of the psychiatric disorders were wrongly formatted with misplaced decimal points. The corrected Table 1 Pooled prevalence of mental disorders in South Asia appears below. The authors apologize for t...