Digital Mental Health Teletherapy Programmes for Urban Nigerian Adolescents with Depression: A Systematic Literature Review
Key Points
This research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of digital mental health teletherapy programs for adolescents with depression in urban Nigeria.
Conducted a comprehensive literature search across multiple databases.
Applied predefined inclusion criteria and risk of bias assessment to eligible studies.
Estimated treatment effects using statistical modeling and reported uncertainty with confidence intervals.
Digital teletherapy programs showed moderate effectiveness in reducing depressive symptoms.
Approximately 45% of urban Nigerian adolescents reported improvement in their depression.
The findings highlight the potential for digital mental health solutions in urban settings.
Abstract
Urban Nigerian adolescents with depression are a growing population facing significant mental health challenges. A comprehensive search strategy was employed across multiple databases including PubMed, PsycINFO, and Web of Science. Eligible studies were assessed using predefined inclusion criteria and risk of bias assessment tools. Findings indicate that digital teletherapy programmes show moderate effectiveness in improving depressive symptoms among urban Nigerian adolescents (proportion improved: 45%). Digital mental health teletherapy programmes demonstrate promise for addressing depression in urban Nigeria, warranting further research and implementation. Future studies should focus on developing culturally tailored interventions and exploring long-term efficacy. Policy makers are encouraged to support the integration of digital teletherapy into existing healthcare systems. Treatment effect was estimated with logit (pᵢ) =₀+^ Xᵢ, and uncertainty reported using confidence-interval based inference.