Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30826585›Full record

Trial reportSocial science & medicine (1982)2019

Government of Malawi's unconditional cash transfer improves youth mental health.

Gustavo Angeles, Jacobus de Hoop, Sudhanshu Handa, Kelly Kilburn, Annamaria Milazzo, Amber Peterman, Malawi Social Cash Transfer Evaluation Team

Registry-linked trialAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Social science & medicine (1982), 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06295250 (ASHA Bangladesh--An Integrated Intervention to Address Depression in Low Income Rural Women), which is not on this map. Cited by 50 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
50citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT06295250 narecruitingnot on this mapstarted 2024, after this paper: background citation

ASHA Bangladesh--An Integrated Intervention to Address Depression in Low Income Rural Women

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversity of Massachusetts, WorcesterRan2024 to 2026Enrolled600ConditionsDepression, Economic Vulnerability, Anxiety, Culture Specific SymptomsArmsManualized Group Based Psychotherapy, Poverty Alleviation
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

50 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Gustavo AngelesDepartment of Maternal and Child Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and MEASURE Evaluation, USA.
Jacobus de HoopSocial and Economic Policy Unit, UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti, Italy. Electronic address: jdehoop@unicef.org.
Sudhanshu HandaDepartment of Public Policy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.
Kelly KilburnInstitute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, University of North Carolina, USA.
Annamaria MilazzoSocial and Economic Policy Unit, UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti, Italy.
Amber PetermanSocial and Economic Policy Unit, UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti, Italy.
Malawi Social Cash Transfer Evaluation Team

Funding

Research Services CoreP2CHD050924 · NICHD · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI KAREN B GUZZO · 2015 to 2026
$9.6M
NICHD NIH HHS P2C HD050924
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

We explore the impacts of Malawi's national unconditional cash transfer program targeting ultra-poor households on youth mental health. Experimental findings show that the program significantly improved mental health outcomes. Among girls in particular, the program reduces indications of depression by about 15 percentage points. We investigate the contribution of different possible pathways to the overall program impact, including education, health, consumption, caregiver's stress levels and life satisfaction, perceived social support, and participation in hard and unpleasant work. The pathways explain from 46 to 65 percent of the program impact, advancing our understanding of how economic interventions can affect mental health of youth in resource-poor settings. The findings underline that unconditional cash grants, which are used on an increasingly large scale as part of national social protection systems in Sub-Saharan Africa, have the potential to improve youth mental wellbeing and thus may help break the vicious cycle of poverty and poor mental health.

Indexed as

Government ProgramsAdolescentDepressionFemaleHumansMalawiMaleMental HealthPovertyProgram EvaluationPublic AssistanceYoung AdultCash transfersMalawiMental healthPovertyRCTYouth

Identifiers

PMID30826585
PMCPMC6829911

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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.