ArticleSSM - population health2023
Impacts of cash transfer and "cash plus" programs on self- perceived stress in Africa: Evidence from Ghana, Malawi, and Tanzania.
Article in SSM - population health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effectiveness of Poverty Reduction Programs on Psychological Development of Children and Adolescents at Risk of Poverty: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2025Pooled it
- Cost-Effectiveness of an Economic Empowerment and Family Intervention on Mental Health Among School-Going Adolescent Girls in Uganda, 2017‒2022.American journal of public health · 2025Trial
- The relationship between household economic shocks, depression, and elevated stress-responsive biomarkers among adolescent girls and young women in rural South Africa (HPTN 068).Journal of affective disorders · 2025Article
- Exploring the role of resilience in selective prevention intervention for adolescents at risk of depression and anxiety in Nepal: findings from a pilot cluster randomized controlled trial.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2025Article
- Health, economic and social impacts of the Brazilian cash transfer program on the lives of its beneficiaries: a scoping review.BMC public health · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Poverty and poor mental health are closely linked. Cash transfers have significantly expanded globally. Given their objectives around poverty reduction and improving food security, a major chronic stressor in Africa, cash transfers may affect mental health outcomes. We examine impacts of three large-scale government cash transfer or cash plus programs in Ghana, Malawi, and Tanzania on self-perceived stress using an innovative, newly adapted measure for rural African settings. Linear regression models were used to estimate treatment impacts. We find that cash transfers reduced self-perceived stress in Malawi, but programs in Ghana and Tanzania had no impacts on self-perceived stress. These mixed findings, combined with recent reviews on cash transfers and mental health, suggest that cash transfers may play a role in improving mental health. However, cash alone may not be sufficient to overcome many challenges related to poverty, and complementary programming may also be needed to improve mental health.
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