Identifying evidence-based treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among adolescents in sub-Saharan...

Children and adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) experience exceptionally high levels of trauma, including experiencing multiple forms of abuse and witnessing violence. Exposure to such traumatic events may lead to the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or other health-related or behaviour-related harms. Untreated PTSD in adolescents results in significant impairments in their adaptive, social, emotional and academic functioning. To date, various intervention strategies have been developed internationally to reduce the severity of PTSD symptoms among children and adolescents. However, despite the documented mental health burden, there is limited evidence of culturally and contextually appropriate PTSD interventions in SSA. The objective of this scoping review is to investigate the evidence-based treatments available for adolescents diagnosed with PTSD in SAA. This investigation includes evaluating whether identified treatments were considered culturally and contextually appropriate.

This scoping review will follow the methodological framework proposed by Arksey and O'Malley. This framework outlines six essential stages for conducting scoping reviews: (1) Defining the research question, (2) Locating pertinent studies, (3) Study selection, (4) Charting the data, (5) Collating, summarising and reporting the results and (6) Consulting with stakeholders. Findings will be presented using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines. Major databases, including PubMed (Medline), Scopus Academic Search Premier, Africa-Wide Information, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Education Resources Information Centre, Healthsource: Nursing/Academic, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES and SocINDEX will be searched.

This review will not involve the collection of primary data from human participants. While formal ethics approval is not required, permission to conduct the study has been obtained from the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town. The results of the scoping review will be submitted to a relevant academic journal, including presentations at relevant conferences, to contribute to academic literature and inform future research.