# Stakeholder engagement to co-design implementation strategies for integrating depression management into HIV care services in Senegal

## TL;DR

This study worked with stakeholders in Senegal to develop a plan for integrating depression care into HIV services, aiming to improve mental health outcomes for people living with HIV.

## Contribution

A collaborative, stakeholder-informed implementation plan for integrating depression management into HIV care in Senegal.

## Key findings

- Forty-eight strategies were identified, with 62.5% deemed highly important and feasible.
- Eight ERIC thematic clusters guided the selection of 46 distinct implementation strategies.
- Materials for implementation and monitoring were validated by stakeholders during the workshop.

## Abstract

Depression is highly prevalent in people living with HIV (PWH), affecting their daily life and HIV outcomes. Following a successful pilot study to treat depression in PWH with Group Interpersonal Therapy, we examined its implementation potential. Despite a strong willingness for its adoption routine practice, formal integration of mental health services into HIV care remained challenging. Using Implementation Mapping, we aimed to select and specify a set of implementation strategies to integrate depression services into Senegalese HIV care.

For each step of depression services (i.e. screening, diagnostic confirmation/referral, and treatment), we selected potential implementation strategies using the Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change (ERIC). During a 3-day workshop, 14 different stakeholders, including doctors, social workers, community health workers, a psychiatrist, a socio-anthropologist and local health officials, reviewed and discussed strategies selected for each implementation step. Each participant also voted on the importance and feasibility of each strategy, using a Likert scale from 1 to 5 (5 = very high importance or feasibility). Scores were then plotted on a 'go-zone' graph. Details of strategies ranked as important and feasible were then specified by stakeholders.

Forty-eight strategies were identified. Among them, 62,5% were considered as highly important and feasible, 31,3% as important but with concerns about feasibility, 6,2% as not very important or feasible. A total of 46 distinct implementation strategies, derived from 21 ERIC strategies and corresponding to 8 ERIC thematic clusters, were selected for the final implementation plan. Materials needed to implement and monitor implementation (i.e. registers, decision tree, patient’s record) were validated during the workshop. Finally, a summary of the implementation plan for integrating depression management into HIV care services in Senegal was elaborated.

A systematic approach was used to collaboratively develop an implementation plan to integrate depression management into HIV care in Senegal. Informed by various stakeholders, this work can facilitate a national dissemination of the integration program and may offer a useful reference for developing similar programs for PWH in other settings.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s43058-025-00801-1.