Nurse-Led Brief Psychological Interventions for Anxiety Disorders in Primary Health Centers in Kwara State, North Central Nigeria

Task-shifting of brief psychological interventions to non-specialist health workers is a cost-effective strategy for expanding mental health service delivery in low-resource settings. This study evaluates the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of nurse-led brief psychological interventions for anxiety disorders at primary health centers in Kwara State, North Central Nigeria. A quasi-experimental pilot design will be employed, recruiting 80 patients presenting with anxiety symptoms at six primary health centers in Ilorin and Offa. Nurses will be trained in a six-session behavioral activation and relaxation-based protocol adapted for low-literacy populations. The Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) and the Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS) will assess symptoms and functional impairment at baseline, post-intervention, and eight-week follow-up. Implementation fidelity will be assessed by supervising psychiatrists through session observation checklists. Descriptive and paired t-test analyses will examine pre-post changes. Task-shifting evidence from Nigeria and other sub-Saharan African countries supports the scalability of this model. Findings will guide the design of a larger randomized trial and inform Kwara State's community mental health scale-up strategy. Keywords: task-shifting, nurse-led intervention, anxiety disorders, primary health care, Kwara State