PRISMA-P Checklist for a Systematic Review Protocol on Digital Mental Health Interventions Among Adolescents and Young People (Aged 10–24 Years) in Africa
South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria...and 5 more, 2025
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AHRI.Digital.Mental.Health.Interventions
PRISMA-P Checklist for a Systematic Review Protocol on Digital Mental Health Interventions Among Adolescents and Young People (Aged 10–24 Years) in Africa
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| South Africa | ZA |
| Kenya | KE |
| Nigeria | NG |
| Uganda | UG |
| Ethiopia | ET |
| Ghana | GH |
| Egypt | EG |
| Malawi | MW |
Adolescents and young people (AYP) aged 10-24 years in Africa experience a high burden of mental health disorders but face significant barriers to accessing care, including a severe shortage of mental health professionals, stigma, and limited integration of mental health services into primary healthcare. Digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) offer a promising avenue to bridge these gaps by providing accessible, scalable, and potentially equitable support. However, little is known about the effectiveness, acceptability, and equity impacts of these interventions among African AYP. This systematic review aims to identify, characterize, and synthesize evidence on DMHIs targeting adolescents and young people in Africa, focusing on mental health outcomes, engagement, feasibility, and equity considerations. We will search PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and EBSCOhost databases, as well as the PsyberGuide repository, for empirical studies published between January 1, 2015, and April 3, 2025. Eligible studies must evaluate a digital mental health intervention among AYP aged 10-24 years living in Africa. Study designs will include randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental studies, observational studies, and mixed-methods studies. Outcomes of interest include mental health symptom reduction (depression, anxiety, stress), psychological well-being, engagement, feasibility, acceptability, and equity-related factors such as gender inclusivity and digital access. Risk of bias will be assessed using RoB 2 and ROBINS-I tools, and evidence quality will be rated using the GRADE approach. Quantitative synthesis will be conducted where feasible, otherwise narrative synthesis will be employed. This review will provide a comprehensive synthesis of available evidence on DMHIs for adolescents and young people in Africa, offering critical insights into their effectiveness, feasibility, and contribution to promoting mental health equity.
Systematic review protocol checklist
Individual empirical studies evaluating digital mental health interventions among adolescents and young people aged 10-24 years in Africa
Version
v1.0.0
Scope
| Topic | Vocabulary | URI |
|---|---|---|
| Mental Health,Adolescent,Young Adult,Digital Adult,Telemedicine,Mobile Applications,Cognitive Behavioural Therapy,Artificial Intelligence,Health Equity,Health Services Accessibility,Psychological Well-Being,Mental Disorders, Africa | Africa Health Research Institute | www.ahri.org |
Coverage
This systematic review covers the entire African continent. Included studies must be conducted in one or more African countries and involve adolescents and young people aged 10-24 years. The geographic scope is at the national level only, with no subnational or regional geographic coding specified or collected in the protocol. The review aims to synthesize evidence across multiple African countries but does not extract or analyse data at subnational levels.
The population of interest comprises adolescents and young people aged 10 to 24 years living in african countries. This age range includes both males and females and spans early adolescence through young adulthood. Eligible individuals are those who are the target of digital mental health interventions, regardless of specific nationality, ethnicity, residence setting (urban or rural), or socioeconomic background. The systematic review will include studies that focus on this defined age group and are conducted within any country in africa. Studies including broader populations will be eligible only if they provide disaggregated data specific to adolescents and young people within the 10-24 age range.
Producers and sponsors
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Mokaya, Aggrey Gisiora | AHRI |
| Dlamini, Nondumiso Michelle | AHRI |
| Nkosi, Syethemba | AHRI |
| Nzuza, Mpilonhle Thembinkosi | AHRI |
| Smith, Thandeka | AHRI |
| Wambua, Grace Nduku | AHRI |
| Hunt, Xanthe | AHRI |
| Stein, Alan | University of Oxford |
| Ngwenya, Nothando | AHRI |
| Name |
|---|
| Africa Health Research Institute |
| Name | Abbreviation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Wellcome Trust | WT | Funder |
| Wellcome Trust | WT | Funder |
| Science for Africa Foundation | SFA | Funder |
| Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation | BMGF | Funder |
| Gilead Sciences Inc | GS | Funder |
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Dickman Gareta | AHRI | Research Data Management |
Sampling
Not applicable - no original sampling was conducted. This is prisma-p checklist is for a systematic review protocol. The unit of analysis is previously published empirical studies that meet predefined eligibility criteria. No sampling of survey respondents was undertaken by the authors. Instead, a comprehensive search strategy was developed to identify all relevant studies published between january 1, 2015, and april 3, 2025, evaluating digital mental health interventions for adolescents and young people aged 10-24 years in africa.
Data collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 2025-01-01 | 2025-04-30 |
Data processing
The prisma-p checklist was completed manually by the review team based on the final version of the systematic review protocol. It was cross-checked against the protocol to ensure adherence to prisma-p 2015 standards. The checklist was finalized following prospero registration and serves as a reporting quality assurance tool prior to protocol publication.
Data Access
Access to the data requires accurate completion of the online data access application form accessible on the AHRI Data repository(https://data.ahri.org/). Data users are required to abide by the data use conditions stipulated on the application for access to the data. Failure to do so may result in their data access privileges being revoked by the Data Custodian. In order to recognise the effort and intellectual contributions of AHRI investigators in producing and curating the data, users of AHRI data must acknowledge the source of the data and abide by the terms and conditions under which the data is accessed and must cite the dataset in publication using the citation provided as part of this documentation. All analytical datasets published on the AHRI Data Repository are assigned digital object identifier (DOIs) and the DOIs can be found on the Data Repository under Study Description tab - Access policy. AHRI data users are required to always cite the dataset using the relevant DOI.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Mokaya, A. G., Dlamini, N. M., Nkosi, S., Nzuza, M. T., Smith, T., Wambua, G. N., Hunt, X., Stein, A., & Ngwenya, N. (2025). PRISMA-P Checklist for a Systematic Review Protocol on Digital Mental Health Interventions Among Adolescents and Young People (Aged 10–24 Years) in Africa. Africa Health Research Institute.
DOI:https://doi.org/10.23664/AHRI.DIGITAL.MENTAL.HEALTH.INTERVENTIONS
Publication DOI
Metadata production
DDI.Digital.Mental.Health.Interventions
| Name | Abbreviation |
|---|---|
| Africa Health Research Institute | AHRI |