SynthesisJournal of child and adolescent mental health2014
Psychometric properties of instruments for assessing depression among African youth: A systematic review.
Synthesis in Journal of child and adolescent mental health, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Examination of performance of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale Short Form 10 among African youth in poor, rural households.BMC psychiatry · 2018Trial
- Using Machine Learning to Predict Depression among Adolescents Living with HIV in Uganda.Global social welfare : research, policy & practice · 2026Article
- Integrating safety planning, problem-solving therapy and peer support for suicide prevention among adolescents living with HIV in Malawi: An application of the ADAPT-ITT adaptation framework.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2026Article
- Cognitive interviewing of the PHQ-A for depression screening among adolescents living with and without HIV in Malawi.Journal of affective disorders · 2025Article
- Validating the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Reporting in a low literacy adolescent population in Burkina Faso.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Child Mental Health Research in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Twin-Family Feasibility Study in Nigeria.Behavior genetics · 2025Article
- In Their Own Words: Using Open-Ended Assessment to Identify Culturally Relevant Concerns among Kenyan Adolescents.Culture, medicine and psychiatry · 2022Article
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of diagnostic test accuracy studies of self-report screening instruments for common mental disorders in Arabic-speaking adults.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2021Review
- Dimensionality and differential item endorsement of depressive symptoms among aging Black populations in South Africa: Findings from the HAALSI study.Journal of affective disorders · 2020Article
- State of the Mind: Growing up with HIV.Paediatric drugs · 2020Review
- Validity of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) in Eritrean refugees living in Ethiopia.BMJ open · 2019Article
- Development and validation of a 20-item screening scale to detect major depressive disorder among adolescents with HIV in rural Uganda: A mixed-methods study.SSM - population health · 2019Article
- Parental involvement could mitigate the effects of physical activity and dietary habits on mental distress in Ghanaian youth.PloS one · 2018Article
- Psychometric evaluation of the Major Depression Inventory among young people living in Coastal Kenya.Wellcome open research · 2017Article
- Mental health and support among young key populations: an ecological approach to understanding and intervention.Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveThis study aimed to systematically review the psychometric properties of instruments used to screen for major depressive disorder or assess depression symptom severity among African youth.
methodsSystematic search terms were applied to seven bibliographic databases: African Journals Online, the African Journal Archive, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Embase, the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), PsycINFO, and the World Health Organization (WHO) African Index Medicus. Studies examining the reliability and/or validity of depression assessment tools were selected for inclusion if they were based on data collected from youth (any author definition) in an African member state of the United Nations. We extracted data on study population characteristics, sampling strategy, sample size, the instrument assessed, and the type of reliability and/or validity evidence provided.
resultsOf 1 027 records, we included 23 studies of 10 499 youth in 10 African countries. Most studies reported excellent scale reliability, but there was much less evidence of equivalence or criterion-related validity. No measures were validated in more than two countries.
conclusionsThere is a paucity of evidence on the reliability or validity of depression assessment among African youth. The field is constrained by a lack of established criterion standards, but studies incorporating mixed methods offer promising strategies for guiding the process of cross-cultural development and validation.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.