A systematic review of university students’ mental health in sub-Saharan Africa

Transformation in Higher Education

 
 
Field Value
 
Title A systematic review of university students’ mental health in sub-Saharan Africa
 
Creator Julius, Bokamoso Putteeraj, Manish Somanah, Jhoti
 
Subject — students; young adults; Sub-Saharan Africa; mental health; higher education; policy
Description The mental health of students in higher education is an increasing concern. Research indicates that university students are at a higher risk of poor mental health and wellbeing compared to the general population, which negatively impacts their studies. The main issue addressed in this study is the evident gap in mental health research dedicated to university students in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The purpose of this article is to review the literature on mental health of university students in SSA and to provide an overview of student mental health policy in educational institutions. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses 2020 recommendation was followed to objectively select and retain articles within the topic of interest for this systematic review. Findings indicate a significant gap in mental health research for university students in SSA. There is a need for higher education institutions to establish mental health empowerment policies and strategies. International examples, such as the University Mental Health Framework in Australia and the United Kingdom Universities Student Wellbeing Good Practice Guide, exist for benchmarking.Contribution: The higher education sector and policymakers can use the results to inform current policy decisions and identify priorities for future directions. It is crucial to translate international guidelines into the African context to address the specific mental health issues of students in the region.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor University of Technology Mauritius Ministry of Education, Tertiary Education, Science and Technology. Mauritius
Date 2024-08-02
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/the.v9i0.316
 
Source Transformation in Higher Education; Vol 9 (2024); 10 pages 2519-5638 2415-0991
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://thejournal.org.za/index.php/thejournal/article/view/316/714 https://thejournal.org.za/index.php/thejournal/article/view/316/715 https://thejournal.org.za/index.php/thejournal/article/view/316/716 https://thejournal.org.za/index.php/thejournal/article/view/316/717
 
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Rights Copyright (c) 2024 Bokamoso Julius, Manish Putteeraj, Jhoti Somanah https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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