TY - JOUR
T1 - Targeting youth mental health in a demographically young country
T2 - a scoping review focused on South Africa
AU - Mumbauer, Alexandra E.
AU - Stein, Dan J.
AU - Wolvaardt, Gustaaf G.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Evidence from South Africa shows a high burden of mental health conditions and a large treatment gap for uninsured people with common mental disorders. For young people seeking mental healthcare, the primary care and community settings are potentially more accessible and appropriate, but public sector mental health services in the country are mostly hospital-based. We undertook a scoping review of needs and preferences for primary care-based and community youth mental health services as well as evaluations of mental health interventions for youth in South Africa. A PubMed search using relevant search terms was conducted, and articles were evaluated based on a set of inclusion and exclusion criteria. Of the 405 publications from the search, 29 articles met criteria for inclusion. Two additional papers were included from searching reference lists. Youth emphasized stigma as a barrier to seeking mental healthcare and highlighted the importance of considering local context when developing mental health interventions. The evaluations of community-based and digital interventions identified in the review demonstrated feasibility and acceptability as well as efficacy. This review provides a foundation on which to base future implementation research and to advocate for youth mental health polices and services.
AB - Evidence from South Africa shows a high burden of mental health conditions and a large treatment gap for uninsured people with common mental disorders. For young people seeking mental healthcare, the primary care and community settings are potentially more accessible and appropriate, but public sector mental health services in the country are mostly hospital-based. We undertook a scoping review of needs and preferences for primary care-based and community youth mental health services as well as evaluations of mental health interventions for youth in South Africa. A PubMed search using relevant search terms was conducted, and articles were evaluated based on a set of inclusion and exclusion criteria. Of the 405 publications from the search, 29 articles met criteria for inclusion. Two additional papers were included from searching reference lists. Youth emphasized stigma as a barrier to seeking mental healthcare and highlighted the importance of considering local context when developing mental health interventions. The evaluations of community-based and digital interventions identified in the review demonstrated feasibility and acceptability as well as efficacy. This review provides a foundation on which to base future implementation research and to advocate for youth mental health polices and services.
KW - mental health interventions
KW - Mental health services
KW - South Africa
KW - youth
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85211127333&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/09540261.2024.2429648
DO - 10.1080/09540261.2024.2429648
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85211127333
SN - 0954-0261
JO - International Review of Psychiatry
JF - International Review of Psychiatry
ER -