J

akarta may soon be able to map the mental health problems of its residents for the sake of better management, thanks to an innovation breakthrough in the form of a smart phone application introduced by one community health center in a South Jakarta district.

In the last five months, healthcare workers at a Cilandak puskesmas (district health center) have been using an Android app called “E-Jiwa” developed by its IT department.

With the app, the health center has so far mapped 5,987 people out of 208,501 residents in all five subdistricts in the area. Of those, 312 have been detected to have mental problems, consisting of 218 diagnosed with depression, who were referred for further care, while 94 were found to be prone to depression and given on-the-spot counseling.

“The app is an innovation for early detection of mental health problems in society. The app helps us to detect early signs of mental illness by surveying residents using the app, instead of waiting for them to come to the health center to seek treatment,” the head of the Cilandak puskesmas, Luigi, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

The innovation came as most puskesmas passively wait for patients to come and then treat them, even though people with mental health problems are usually reluctant to seek treatment for themselves.

“A depressed person isn’t likely to come to a puskesmas himself. At worst, some are already on the brink of suicide when their families bring them here,” she said.

A 25 percent increase in the number of patients seeking mental health treatment in 2016 to 2017 also moved the puskesmas to come up with the innovation. Luigi did not provide a number.

With the system, the health workers equipped with the app visit the residents in a community gathering or directly in their homes and inform about it.

The doctor then registers a patient in the app and asks up to 29 questions adapted from the Health Ministry’s self-reporting questionnaire (SQR) used to detect early signs of depression.

Luigi said the E-Jiwa app contained 29 questions because it also included ones about a patient’s physical health, possible substance abuse and signs of anxiety.

After completing the questionnaire as guided by the health workers, residents with problems are categorized into one of three possible statuses based on their answers.

A green status means that a patient is mentally healthy and would be checked again a year after the initial survey. If the patient status is yellow, it means he or she has borderline mental health problems and would be given counseling on site by the visiting doctor.

If a patient receives a red status, the doctor will immediately refer him or her to a nearby puskesmas or hospital for further diagnosis.

Mariani, 44, a South Gandaria resident had herself checked by a doctor using the E-Jiwa app in September and received a yellow status. She admitted she had been a bit stressed because her son was having school problems. With her initial checkup she said that she became more aware of mental health issues and she checked herself again with E-Jiwa on Thursday, guided by a doctor at the South Gandaria puskesmas, and received a green status.

Currently, the app is only available for health centers in the Cilandak district with the pilot project in the South Gandaria puskesmas.

Jakarta Health Agency acting head Khofifah Any said she was impressed with the innovation and the city administration has planned to implement the program citywide, launching it on Dec. 9 to coincide with National Health Day.

The other puskesmas and districts would be trained to use the app, which would also be available to the public.

“We expect with the app, people with mental illness in Jakarta would be detected earlier and we can apply preventive and medication measures earlier to prevent severe mental illnesses,” Any said on Friday.