Co-morbid substance use disorders in people with severe mental illness: a scoping review of psychosocial interventions

This scoping review aims to produce an overview of the current evidence on psychosocial interventions for co-morbid severe mental illness (SMI) and substance use disorders (SUD) in the Global South, to inform the development/adaptation and testing of an intervention in Ethiopia (30). A scoping review is the appropriate methodology because: (1) The evidence base on efficacy or effectiveness of psychological interventions for people with dual diagnosis in the Global South is expected to be very limited. (2) Previous systematic reviews or meta-analyses have been limited to single psychosocial interventions or single substances such as psychoactive drugs or alcohol only and mostly including studies in high income country settings. (3) We are interested in identifying evidence and experience of interventions from non-trial studies and the grey literature that may shed light on promising approaches, challenges and opportunities.