ArticleChild and adolescent psychiatry and mental health2025
Mental health service use among adolescents in three low- and middle-income countries: An analysis of the National Adolescent Mental Health Surveys.
Article in Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Burden and trends of mental disorders in Vietnam, 1990-2023: insights from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023.Osong public health and research perspectives · 2026Article
- Beyond survey design: Lessons from conducting the National Adolescent Mental Health Surveys.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2025Article
- Increasing knowledge on adolescent mental health in low- and middle-income countries: The National Adolescent Mental Health Surveys.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMental disorders are prevalent and their onset is highest during adolescence. However, there are limited data on adolescent mental health service utilization in low- and middle-income countries.
methodsData were from the National Adolescent Mental Health Surveys (NAMHS), nationally representative household surveys of adolescents aged 10-17 years and their primary caregiver conducted in Kenya, Indonesia, and Vietnam. All primary caregivers were asked whether their adolescent used any services providing support or counselling for emotional or behavioural problems in the past 12 months. Mental disorders were assessed using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children, Version 5 (DISC-5). The prevalence of service use was calculated among those with mental disorders, subthreshold mental disorders, and no mental disorder. The prevalence of service use among those with either a diagnostic or subthreshold mental disorder was compared by demographic characteristics and broad mental disorder type. All estimates were weighted using population weights for each country and presented with 95% confidence intervals (CI).
resultsVery few adolescents with a mental disorder (Kenya: 11.9%, 95% CI: 9.3-15.1; Indonesia: 4.7%, 95% CI: 1.9-11.1; Vietnam: 8.2%; 95% CI: 3.9-16.4) or a subthreshold mental disorder (Kenya: 10.8%, 95% CI: 9.1-12.9; Indonesia: 2.2%, 95% CI: 1.1-4.5; Vietnam: 8.5%; 95% CI: 5.0-14.1) accessed services that provide support or counselling for emotional or behavioural problems in the past 12 months. In Kenya, being older (aOR 1.41, 95% CI; 1.07-1.86) and female (aOR 1.77, 95% CI; 1.34-2.34) were associated with increased odds of service use, while having internalising disorders only (aOR 0.45, 95% CI; 0.30-0.65) was associated with decreased odds of service use. No difference by demographic characteristics or mental disorder type was seen in Indonesia and Vietnam.
conclusionsOnly a small proportion of adolescents with a diagnostic or subthreshold mental disorder accessed services for mental health in Kenya, Indonesia, and Vietnam. These findings indicate the need for greater support for adolescents with mental disorders and provide critical context for governments and relevant in-country stakeholders when reviewing the availability and accessibility of adolescent mental health services.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.