Dr Petra Gronholm

Dr Petra Gronholm holds core expertise in mental health research and health services research, considering questions around help-seeking and service access, including exploring barriers and facilitators of service access considering the role of mental health stigma and discrimination. Much of Petra's work explores these phenomena in a global mental health context, including a focus on cultural and contextual influences, and experience among children and young people. 

Petra works on a number of projects focused on the experiences of persons living with mental health conditions, e.g. in terms of stigma, discrimination, and human rights. Her work takes an applied perspective, aiming to drive practical change. As such Petra's work also bridges theory and practice through the development of toolkits and guidelines, and implementing and evaluating anti-stigma interventions. This includes collaborations with the World Health Organization and the Global Mental Health Peer Network, as well as numerous partners globally. Petra holds methodological expertise in literature reviews and evidence synthesis, mixed methods research, and qualitative research approaches. 

Before joining LSHTM in August 2024, she has held positions at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London, University College London, London School of Economics and Political Science, Imperial College London, and Columbia University.

Key Publications (full list available on the LSHTM Profile page):

• Gronholm, P. C., Kline, S., Lamba, M., Lempp, H., Mahkmud, A., Morales Cano, G., Vashisht, K., Vera San Juan, N., & Sunkel, C. (2024). Exploring perspectives of stigma and discrimination among people with lived experience of mental health conditions: a co-produced qualitative study. EClinicalMedicine, 70(102509). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2024.102509
• Gronholm, P. C., Makhmud, A., Barbui, C., Brohan, E., & Chowdhary, N. (2023). Qualitative evidence regarding the experience of receiving and providing care for mental health conditions in non-specialist settings in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review of reviews. BMJ Mental Health, 26(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjment-2023-300755
• Gronholm, P. C., Bakolis, I., Cherian, A. v, Davies, K., Evans-Lacko, S., Girma, E., Gurung, D., Hanlon, C., Hanna, F., Henderson, C., Kohrt, B. A., Lempp, H., Li, J., Loganathan, S., Maulik, P. K., Ma, N., Ouali, U., Romeo, R., Rüsch, N., … Thornicroft, G. (2023). Toward a multi-level strategy to reduce stigma in global mental health: overview protocol of the Indigo Partnership to develop and test interventions in low- and middle-income countries. In International Journal of Mental Health Systems (Vol. 17, Issue 1, pp. 1–11). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13033-022-00564-5