Mabrouk Adam, Mbithi Gideon, Chongwo Esther, Too Ezra, Sarki Ahmed, Namuguzi Mary, Atukwatse Joseph, Ssewanyana Derrick, Abubakar Amina
Institute for Human Development, Aga Khan University, Nairobi, Kenya.
School of Nursing and Midwifery, Aga Khan University, Kampala, Uganda.
Front Psychiatry. 2022 Aug 11;13:937723. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.937723. eCollection 2022.
Globally, adolescents are vulnerable to mental health problems, particularly those from sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) due to impoverished living conditions and a higher prevalence of chronic conditions such as HIV/AIDS in the region. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated this risk. This calls for an urgent need for evidence-based adolescent mental health interventions to reduce the risk and burden of mental health problems in SSA. The review aims to identify and characterize existing adolescent mental health interventions in SSA, as well as to evaluate their implementation strategies and effectiveness.
We systematically searched PubMed, African Index Medicus, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and CINAHL databases for relevant articles. Furthermore, we searched gray literature databases, including Think Tank search, open gray, NGO search engine, and IGO search engine for additional relevant articles. The scoping review was conducted to identify original research articles on mental health interventions among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa published from database inception to 31 December 2021. We carried out a narrative synthesis to report our findings.
Our literature search generated 4,750 studies, of which 1,141 were duplicates, 3,545 were excluded after screening, and 64 articles met the inclusion criteria. The 64 studies describe a total of 57 unique mental health interventions comprising 40,072 adolescents. The nature of these interventions was diverse, encompassing various implementation strategies such as economic-based, family strengthening, psychoeducation, interpersonal psychotherapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and resilience training, among others. Most of the interventions were selective interventions that targeted adolescents at high risk of developing mental health problems including adolescents living with HIV, war-affected adolescents, orphans, adolescents from poorer backgrounds, and survivors of sexual violence. Half of the interventions were delivered by lay persons. Sixty-two of the eligible studies examined the effectiveness of the mental health interventions, of which 55 of them reported a positive significant impact on various mental health outcomes.
The review findings show that there exist several diverse interventions that promote mental health among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa. These interventions can be implemented in diverse settings including schools, communities, health facilities, and camps, and can be delivered by lay persons.
在全球范围内，青少年易患心理健康问题，特别是撒哈拉以南非洲地区（SSA）的青少年，因为该地区生活条件贫困，且诸如艾滋病毒/艾滋病等慢性病的患病率较高。新冠疫情进一步加剧了这种风险。这就迫切需要基于证据的青少年心理健康干预措施，以降低撒哈拉以南非洲地区心理健康问题的风险和负担。本综述旨在识别和描述撒哈拉以南非洲地区现有的青少年心理健康干预措施，并评估其实施策略和效果。
我们系统地检索了PubMed、非洲医学索引、PsycINFO、科学网和CINAHL数据库中的相关文章。此外，我们还检索了灰色文献数据库，包括智库搜索、开放灰色文献库、非政府组织搜索引擎和政府间组织搜索引擎，以获取更多相关文章。本综述旨在识别从数据库建立到2021年12月31日发表的关于撒哈拉以南非洲地区青少年心理健康干预措施的原始研究文章。我们进行了叙述性综合分析以报告研究结果。
我们的文献检索共得到4750项研究，其中1141项为重复研究，筛选后排除3545项，64篇文章符合纳入标准。这64项研究共描述了57种独特的心理健康干预措施，涉及40072名青少年。这些干预措施的性质各不相同，包括各种实施策略，如基于经济的策略、加强家庭关系、心理教育、人际心理治疗、认知行为疗法和恢复力训练等。大多数干预措施是针对有心理健康问题高风险的青少年的选择性干预措施，包括感染艾滋病毒的青少年、受战争影响的青少年、孤儿、来自贫困背景的青少年以及性暴力幸存者。一半的干预措施由非专业人员实施。62项符合条件的研究考察了心理健康干预措施的效果，其中55项报告了对各种心理健康结果有积极显著影响。
综述结果表明，撒哈拉以南非洲地区存在多种促进青少年心理健康的不同干预措施。这些干预措施可以在包括学校、社区、卫生设施和营地等不同环境中实施，并且可以由非专业人员提供。
