Mental health and disability research priorities and capacity needs in Ghana: findings from a scoping review and research priority ranking survey.

Abstract Background Identification of national research agendas for mental health and disability can be supported by well-designed research priority-setting studies. Few Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) have undertaken such studies. Methods A mixed methods study comprising a scoping review, research priority ranking survey, and research capacity needs assessment survey was employed to identify mental health and disability research priorities in Ghana. Five expert pools were identified from online search and existing database on mental health civil society organisations/non-governmental organisations. The research priority ranking was completed in two stages, using the Child and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) method to identify priority questions in stage two. Both surveys were deployed online using google forms. Analysis for the ranking survey involved computing total scores from the CHNRI criteria and generating ranks for the research questions. Results 68 experts (97% response rate), generated 94 and 92 questions for the short and long-term respectively. 40 experts (58% response rate) completed the ranking stage. The top 10 ranked research questions included: 4 questions addressing mental health systems; 2 questions on epidemiology; and 4 questions on interventions. All research questions were considered urgent and should be conducted in the immediate to short-term (0–5 years). Capacity for disability and mental health research is weak. Conclusion Our approach has generated an agenda for mental health and disability research priorities for Ghana and demonstrated that it is feasible to employ a systematic methodology for research priority setting that includes key parameters of context and research capacity.