Bio:

Herbert received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from Mbarara University of Science and Technology in 2016 under the supervision of Dr. Thomas Elbert. His dissertation focused on traumatic events, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, aggression, and cognitive functions among Congolese refugees in Uganda. He has also focused his research on cognitive domains of working memory and executive functions as well as appetitive and facilitative subtypes of aggression. 

Herbert is a core member of the ANH-Academy Mental Health Working Group

Project summary:

Although  it  is  clear  in  literature,  that  gardening and  consumption  of  fruits  and  vegetables  (FV)  prevent  mental health  symptoms  of  depression,  anxiety  and  stress  in  both adults  and  children,  this  intervention  is  less  well recognized by mental health practitioners, researchers and policy makers from low- and middle-income countries. Building  on  our  recent  cross-sectional  study  of  232  family  caregivers  of  people  with  dementia  that  showed symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress when assessed using Depression Anxiety Stress Scales. This proposed study will in addition assess caregiver’s consumption of FV using dietary survey questionnaire and involvement  gardening  as  our  explanatory  variables  of  interest  answered  by  information  regarding  caregivers’ involvement in different aspects of gardening.The study will focus on (i) determining the relationship between the consumption of FV and mental health symptoms of  depression,  anxiety  and  stress among family caregivers of people  living with dementia  in rural southwestern Uganda (ii) comparing caregiver’s involvement in gardening and their levels of stress, anxiety and depression in rural  southwestern  Uganda. Results  from  this  study  will  inform nutritional  and  gardening  focused  metrics  for  mental  health  prevention  and  treatment  by  developing  a  cost- effective mental health prevention and treatment model. Furthermore, the psycho-metric measures assessed on the tools  measuring  diet  and gardening  metrics  during  this  study,  will  act  as  a  basis  for  future  use  within  the comparable samples in Africa.

Publications:

Participation in gardening activity and its association with improved mental health among family caregivers of people with dementia in rural Uganda 

Fruit and vegetable intake and mental health among family caregivers of people with dementia in Uganda 

Briefing note:

Mental health benefits of participating in gardening, consumption of fruits and vegetables among family caregivers of people with dementia in rural Southwestern Uganda