Category: Global Mental Health
Katherine Venturo-Conerly, B.A., M.A. (she/her/hers)
Graduate Student
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts
David Ndetei, Ph.D. (he/him/his)
Professor
Professor of Psychiatry, University of Nairobi; Founding Director, Africa Mental Health Research and Training Foundation, Nairobi, Kenya; Director, World Psychiatric Association Collaborating Centre for Research and Training, Kenya
Nairobi, Nairobi Area, Kenya
Savannah Johnson, B.S., M.A. (she/her/hers)
Phd Candidate
Duke University
Durham, North Carolina
Natalie Johnson, MPH
PhD Student
University Hospital Basel
Basel, Basel-Stadt, Switzerland
Tom Osborn, B.A. (he/him/his)
Co-Founder and CEO
Shamiri Institute
Nairobi, Nairobi Area, Kenya
Katherine Venturo-Conerly, B.A., M.A. (she/her/hers)
Graduate Student
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Ninety percent of the world’s youth (i.e., children and adolescents) live in lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs; Weine et al., 2020), yet less than 10% of all randomized controlled trials of youth psychotherapies have been conducted in LMICs (Venturo-Conerly et al., 2023). There is therefore a need for greater prioritization of youth mental health intervention development and testing research in these settings. Additionally, LMICs often face certain unique circumstances that influence optimal mental health intervention design, including a dearth of professional mental health providers, relatively low government spending on mental health care, unique manifestations of social stigma associated with mental illness that may deter help-seeking, and a lack of locally developed and tested evidence-based treatment protocols (Osborn et al., 2020). Further research focused on mental health interventions for youth living in LMICs may be valuable for improving availability and quality of mental health care in LMICs. In particular, this research may usefully involve: a) designing culturally-appropriate and low-stigma interventions through formative research and b) testing such interventions in randomized trials. In particular, one important future direction for intervention research in LMICs is designing evidence-based interventions that draw from cognitive behavioral therapy principles but with a more positive focus (i.e., a focus on flourishing) rather than on Western diagnoses and symptoms such as depression (Osborn et al., 2021; Wasil et al., 2021).
In this symposium, the presenters will share findings from a variety of recent studies focused on interventions to promote flourishing among youth in LMICs in Africa. Presentations on both formative work for development of interventions and on randomized controlled trials will be included in the symposium. First, Savannah Johnson et al. will discuss formative qualitative interview research on healthy relationships, wellness, and intimate partner violence with adolescents and caregivers in rural Kenya, and how findings from this research may inform intervention development. Second, Natalie Johnson et al. will showcase data on the importance of curiosity as a fundamental trait to help Kenyan youth flourish and a potential target for youth wellness interventions. Third, Osborn et al., will share the results of a randomized trial investigating the effectiveness of a brief arts-literacy intervention with challenging school material in a group setting, on adolescent depression and anxiety symptoms. Fourth, Venturo-Conerly et al. will share results of a five-arm randomized controlled trial comparing the effectiveness of the Shamiri Intervention and each of its components (growth, gratitude, and values) to an active control among school-going Kenyan adolescents. Finally, discussant Dr. Ndetei, a leading expert on youth mental health research and dissemination in Africa, will synthesize the research presented in the symposium and discuss open questions and future directions in interventions to promote human flourishing among youth in Africa.
