ArticlePLOS mental health2025
The mediating effects of perceived social support and shame on psychological distress and its dimensions among Liberian refugees in Nigeria.
Article in PLOS mental health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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.
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
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Liberian refugees in Nigeria have faced prolonged displacement since the 1990s, experiencing significant psychological distress and shame. Perceived social support (PSS) is a crucial factor in mitigating these effects, yet limited research has explored its mediating role alongside shame in this population. This study examines how PSS and shame mediate psychological distress and explores their domain-specific interactions. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 520 Liberian refugees (334 males, 186 females) in Oru, using structured questionnaires. Data were analyzed using SPSS and AMOS. Findings indicate that PSS partially mediates the relationship between shame and psychological distress (β = -0.32, p < 0.001), highlighting its protective role. Domain-specific interactions emerged, revealing that different dimensions of PSS and shame uniquely influence psychological distress. Family support (β = -0.41, p < 0.001) and friend support (β = -0.28, p < 0.01) were negatively associated with distress, while bodily shame (β = 0.35, p < 0.001) and characterological shame (β = 0.47, p < 0.001) were positively linked to distress. Notably, behavioral shame (β = 0.21, p < 0.05) was positively related to aspects of PSS, whereas family support showed no significant association with anxiety (p = 0.12) or bodily shame (p = 0.08). These findings emphasize the need for targeted mental health interventions accounting for the mediating role of PSS and the nuanced interactions between PSS, shame, and distress. The implications are discussed within the framework of Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy, offering insights for refugee mental health support.
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.