Trial reportJournal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry2023
Short-Term Impact of "Amaka Amasanyufu" Multiple Family Group Intervention on Mental Health Functioning of Children With Disruptive Behavior Disorders in Uganda.
Trial report in Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03081195 (SMART Africa), which is not on this map. Cited by 8 papers.
What it found
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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.
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.
SMART Africa: Addressing African Youth Mental Health by Scaling Family and Community-Level EBPs
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.
- Training and supervision of lay mental health workers in community-based interventions in East Africa: a scoping review.Global health action · 2026Article
- Testing the impact of family-based intervention to improve developmental and health outcomes for female adolescents: study protocol for a cluster-randomized clinical trial in Ghana.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Fidelity Assessment of the Multiple Family Group Intervention for Disruptive Behavioral Disorders Among Children and Adolescents in Uganda.Evidence-based practice in child and adolescent mental health · 2025Article
- The Impact of Group-Based Interventions on Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties among Adolescents Living with HIV: The Suubi4Stigma Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of child and family studies · 2025Article
- Exploring mediators of the Amaka Amasanyufu Multiple Family Group Intervention (2016-2022) on parenting stress reduction among caregivers of children with disruptive behavior disorders in Uganda.SSM. Mental health · 2024Article
- RE: Do no harm: can school mental health interventions cause iatrogenic harm?BJPsych bulletin · 2023Article
- "I decided to participate….because I saw it as benefiting our community and families": a qualitative study of lay providers' experiences with delivering an evidence-based mental health intervention for families in Uganda.International journal of mental health systems · 2023Article
- Typology and correlates of parental stress among caregivers of children with DBDs in low-resourced communities in Uganda.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveWe evaluate the mid-intervention (8 weeks) and short-term (16 weeks) impact of a culturally adapted multiple family group (MFG) intervention, "Amaka Amasanyufu," on the mental health of children with disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs) and primary caregivers in Uganda.
methodWe analyzed data from the Strengthening mental health and research training in Sub-Saharan Africa (SMART) Africa-Uganda study. Schools were randomized to the following: a control group; an MFG facilitated by parent peers (MFG-PP); or an MFG facilitated by community health workers (MFG:CHW). All participants were blinded to interventions provided to other participants and study hypotheses. At 8 weeks and 16 weeks, we evaluated differences in depressive symptoms and self-concept among children and in mental health and caregiving-related stress among caregivers. Three-level linear mixed-effects models were fitted. Pairwise comparisons of post-baseline group means were performed using the Sidak adjustment for multiple comparisons and standardized mean differences. Data from 636 children with DBDs and caregivers (controls: n = 243, n = 10 schools; MFG-PP: n = 194, n = 8 schools; MFG-CHW: n = 199, n = 8 schools) were analyzed.
resultsThere were significant group-by-time interactions for all outcomes, and differences were observed mid-intervention, with short-term effects at 16 weeks (end-intervention). MFG-PP and MFG-CHW children had significantly lower depressive symptoms and higher self-concept, whereas caregivers had significantly lower caregiving-related stress and fewer mental health problems, than controls. There was no difference between intervention groups.
conclusionAmaka Amasanyufu MFG intervention is effective for reducing depressive symptoms and improving self-concept among children with DBDs while reducing parental stress and mental health problems among caregivers. Given the paucity of culturally adapted mental health interventions, this provides support for adaptation and scale-up in Uganda and other low-resource settings. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION INFORMATION: SMART Africa (Strengthening Mental Health Research and Training); https://clinicaltrials.gov/: NCT03081195.
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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.