Table 2 Service provider interview questions (not the complete interview)

Counselling experience and support

 1. Can you explain to me what your understanding of depression is and how you would know if a person has depression?

 2. What typical symptoms do people have who are depressed and how do these symptoms affect their lives? How long do these symptoms usually last?

 3. How common is depression in Khayelitsha? Are pregnant women and mothers more likely to be depressed than other people? If so, why?

 4. What do you think would be the best way to help pregnant women and mothers with depression in Khayelitsha?

 5. What kind of support do you think depressed pregnant women and mothers need?

 6. Would you say it would be better to have a CHW or HIV counsellor to do the counselling to the mothers?

 7. Do you know what mental health counsellors are? What do mental health counsellors do?

 8. Do you have any counselling experience? If so, describe this experience.

 9. What skills would you like to learn if you were to provide counselling to depressed pregnant women or mothers of young infants in Khayelitsha?

 10. What kind of support and supervision would you need in order to do counselling for depressed mothers in their homes? How often would you like to meet with a supervisor/manager?

Characteristics of the counsellor

 1. Would you say it would be better to have a CHW or HIV counsellor to do the counselling to the mothers?

 2. What kind of counsellor is acceptable to depressed mothers or pregnant women? (Gender, age, qualification, culture, race, locality, relationship/community relations).

 3. Tell me about your current work - Which organisation you work for?

 4. How often do you see your supervisor and how do you report to your supervisor?

 5. If you were working with pregnant women and mothers who are depressed, how many home visits do you think you could manage, over a period of 6 months? [If the person struggles to think about 6 months ask about 1 month or even 1 week and then multiply this by 6 for months and by 26 for weeks].

 6. When in the day and week do you think such home visits would be possible for you?

Logistics of counselling

 1. Do you visit patients at their homes? And if yes, how often do you do this? What kind of work do you normally do with patients?

 2. How comfortable do you/would you feel visiting patients at home – how acceptable is it? (Probe for issues of confidentiality, safety, e.t.c.)

 3. What limitations/obstacles do you see in delivering a counselling programme to depressed patients at their homes?

 4. What are the potential benefits of counselling women in their homes or clinics that you wouldn’t get if you counselled them at the clinic?