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Symposium

Dissemination and Implementation Science
Symposium

Symposium 30 - Playing with 'scale': Novel methods to scale interventions, improve access, and build clinical capacity to meet global treatment shortages

Friday, June 26, 2026
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM PDT
Location: Yerba Buena Salon 14, B3 Level
CE: 1.5

Keywords: Technology / Mobile Health, Dissemination, Public Health
Level of Familiarity: Basic to Moderate
Recommended Readings: Patel, V., Naslund, J. A., Wood, S., Patel, A., Chauvin, J. J., Agrawal, R., ... & G. Fairburn, C. (2022). EMPOWER: toward the global dissemination of psychosocial interventions. Focus, 20(3), 301-306.,   Naslund, J. A., Carmio, N., Taha, S., Amara, M., Wood, S., Patel, A., ... & Sanchez, K. (2025). Development of a digital program for training non-specialist providers to deliver a psychosocial intervention for depression: a formative study to support scaling up task-shared depression care in the United States. Cambridge Prisms: Global Mental Health, 12, e23.,   Wainberg, M. L., Scorza, P., Shultz, J. M., Helpman, L., Mootz, J. J., Johnson, K. A., ... & Arbuckle, M. R. (2017). Challenges and opportunities in global mental health: a research-to-practice perspective. Current psychiatry reports, 19(5), 28.,   ,  

Globally, we face significant public health challenges. Poverty, trauma, war/violence, and a sudden and systematic divestments – prompted by the elimination the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) – have buckled health systems’ capacities in low-resource settings. The need for scalable treatments and inventive approaches in disseminating and implementing training programs is greater than ever.

In this symposium, we de-construct the idea of ‘scale.’ We describe common challenges in disseminating evidence-based interventions, how to design of scalable interventions, and the best ways to implement training programs to build capacity with maximal reach and access. In the first talk, Dr. Anushka Patel (early-stage investigator) will delineate global mental health treatment shortages and the potential for single-session interventions (SSIs) in addressing this gap. The second presentation, led by Katy O’Neill (post-baccalaureate research coordinator), will focus on a case example of an SSI she is developing for acute trauma survivors (i.e., within days of trauma exposure). The next presentation, led by Dr. John Naslund (mid-career researcher), will describe a scalable digital platform to train paraprofessionals and community health workers in learning evidence-based treatments, such as behavioral activation for depression with adults. This talk will focus on findings from designing, launching, and piloting the EMPOWER model – a digital training ecosystem developed with multi-step and multi-stakeholder engagement. The last talk will be led by Emma Hill (post-baccalaureate research coordinator), will discuss the design process and lessons learned from crafting EMPOWER Youth – a training course focused on training new providers in effectively treating adolescents (ages 10–19) for internalizing symptoms. Finally, Dr. Kenneth Carswell (Technical Officer at the World Health Organization) will thread together the discussion, highlighting opportunities for growth and providing a policy perspective on how scale can be dynamically considered in intervention design and implementation.

Together, these talks leverage strengths of community and health systems by implementing scalable interventions (e.g., SSIs) with scalable training formats (i.e., digital tools). This symposium will provide clear case examples, inviting participants in critical analysis of ‘scale.’

Learning Objectives:

  • Identify global and local treatment shortages that necessitate the development of scalable intervention and training programs.
  • Critically examine levers that make an intervention and/or training program 'scalable.'
  • Evaluate the evidence for scalable interventions and training programs, and be able to adapt principles of scalability to their own programs.

Presentations:

  • 2:06 PM - 2:27 PM PDT
    (SYM 30) So Many Treatments, so Little Access: The Unique Opportunity of Single-session Interventions to Meet Vast Global Mental Health Needs

    Speaker: Anushka Patel, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Harvard Medical School

  • 2:27 PM - 2:48 PM PDT
    (SYM 30) The Lone Star Depression Challenge: Scaling Digital Training and Task Sharing to Strengthen the Community Mental Health Workforce in Texas

    Speaker: John Naslund, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – Harvard Medical School

  • 2:48 PM - 3:09 PM PDT
    (SYM 30) Lessons from Implementing EMPOWER Youth: A Digital Training Program for Diverse Frontline Providers to Support Adolescents with Internalizing Mental Health Challenges

    Speaker: Emma Hill, B.A. – Harvard Medical School

  • 3:09 PM - 3:30 PM PDT
    (SYM 30) Development of Recovery-phase Appropriate Single-session Interventions for Trauma-exposed Populations

    Speaker: Katy O'Neill, M.P.H. – Harvard Medical School