Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41615568›Full record

ArticleThe Psychiatric quarterly2026

A Survey of Health Workers in Ghana and Nigeria on the Potential Burden and Local Assessment of Executive Dysfunction Among Children.

Kwabena Kusi-Mensah, Dolapo Babalola, John-Paul Omuojine, Ruth Owusu-Antwi, Dennis Bomansang Daliri, Evangeline Bediako, Anne-Marie Burn, Olayinka Omigbodun, Andrew Bateman

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Article in The Psychiatric quarterly, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
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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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

9 authors.

Kwabena Kusi-MensahDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Clifford Allbutt Building, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 OAH, UK. kpk27@cam.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0165-8405
Dolapo BabalolaCollege of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0004-5399-5723
John-Paul OmuojineDepartment of Behavioural Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7320-6104
Ruth Owusu-AntwiDepartment of Behavioural Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9657-1956
Dennis Bomansang DaliriPresbyterian Psychiatric Hospital, Bolgatanga, Ghana.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6754-0069
Evangeline BediakoKomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0004-0687-5411
Anne-Marie BurnDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Clifford Allbutt Building, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 OAH, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0637-2118
Olayinka OmigbodunCollege of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3808-8530
Andrew BatemanDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Clifford Allbutt Building, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 OAH, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2547-5921

Funding

NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre NIHR203312
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Early identification of executive dysfunction in children by non-specialist through task-shifting is imperative to attaining universal health coverage in sub-Saharan Africa. We assessed the potential burden of executive dysfunction seen by local health workers, and the potential for integrating them into assessment for cognitive functioning of children within the local healthcare system. This study was a cross-sectional in-person and online survey of 133 health workers in rural and urban Ghana and Nigeria from primary, secondary and tertiary tiers of the healthcare system. Adolescents (11 - 18 years) were the most seen age-category in primary and secondary care and by non-specialists, while school-age children (6 - 9 years) and pre-schoolers (1 - 5 years) were most seen by specialists. In decreasing order of frequency, the reported conditions likely to be associated with executive dysfunction and the cadres of workers who saw them were epilepsy and seizure-related (all workers), brain injury and neurodevelopmental delay-related complaints (secondary care workers), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder related complaints (specialists in referral centres), anxiety-related complaints (specialists in primary care) and school difficulties-related complaints (secondary care workers and non-specialists). Adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder may be going unrecognised. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children/Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence and the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (not ecologically validated) and clinical history with Mental State Exam were the most common means of assessing cognitive functioning. Potential burden of executive dysfunction among children in Ghana and Nigeria is high, and involvement of non-specialist health workers in cognitive functioning assessment is needed.

Indexed as

African childrenChild and Adolescent Mental Health epidemiologyCognitive FunctioningDeveloping countriesExecutive dysfunction

Identifiers

PMID41615568

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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.