SynthesisTropical medicine & international health : TM & IH2025
A Systematic Review of Research and Governance in Child and Adolescent Mental Health in Africa.
Synthesis in Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled 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.
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
1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A Systematic Review of Research and Governance in Child and Adolescent Mental Health in Africa.Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH · 2025Pooled it
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundChildren and adolescents with mental health conditions represent a uniquely vulnerable population, particularly in Africa where mental health systems are under-resourced and understudied. Conducting research with this group raises complex ethical questions that require robust legislative and ethical oversight.
methodsThis systematic review included searches from Medline, Embase, PsycInfo, Global Health and grey literature, conducted without any time restrictions up to 10 September 2023. Publications included focused on individuals aged 0-17. All study designs were included if they addressed governance and regulations in child and adolescent mental health research in Africa. Excluded publications did not report findings specific to children, to Africa, to governance or regulations in mental health research, or had no available full text. Articles were critically appraised using JBI checklists and data was extracted into Excel. Articles were narratively synthesised using frequencies for dates of regulations and ages of consent and coded in NVivo for attitudes toward regulation. The study protocol is available at PROSPERO (CRD42023464864).
resultsThis review identified 14 articles from nine countries across Africa. Most regulations were over a decade old, with the most recent from 2017. The publications covered five themes: concerns toward unfavourable existing legislation, concerns about risks of undertaking research on a clinical frontline, a call to action regarding the dearth of African literature in this field, specific recommendations for future research and suggested new research directions.
conclusionsThis study highlights the need for improved research governance and legislation to protect children and adolescents in mental health research in Africa. Overall, most African countries place a low priority on child and adolescent mental health research.
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.