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Child mental health in Sierra Leone: a survey and exploratory qualitative study

Overview of attention for article published in International Journal of Mental Health Systems, June 2016
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  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (76th percentile)
  • Average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source

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10 X users
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1 Facebook page

Citations

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38 Dimensions

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286 Mendeley
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Title
Child mental health in Sierra Leone: a survey and exploratory qualitative study
Published in
International Journal of Mental Health Systems, June 2016
DOI 10.1186/s13033-016-0080-8
Pubmed ID
Authors

Hélène N. C. Yoder, Wietse A. Tol, Ria Reis, Joop T. V. M. de Jong

Abstract

This study complements the growing amount of research on the psychosocial impact of war on children in Sierra Leone by examining local perceptions of child mental health, formal and informal care systems, help-seeking behaviour and stigma. The study combined: (1) a nationwide survey of mental health care providers, with (2) exploratory qualitative research among service users and providers and other stakeholders concerned with child and adolescent mental health, with a particular emphasis on local explanations and stigma. Formal mental health care services are extremely limited resulting in an estimated treatment gap of over 99.8 %. Local explanations of child mental health problems in Sierra Leone are commonly spiritual or supernatural in nature, and associated with help-seeking from traditional healers or religious institutions. There is a considerable amount of stigma related to mental disorders, which affects children, their caregivers and service providers, and may lead to discrimination and abuse. Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) care development in Sierra Leone should cater to the long-term structural effects of war-violence and an Ebola epidemic. Priorities for development include: (1) the strengthening of legal structures and the development of relevant policies that strengthen the health system and specifically include children and adolescents, (2) a clearer local distinction between children with psychiatric, neurological, developmental or psychosocial problems and subsequent channelling into appropriate services (3) supplementary CAMH training for a range of professionals working with children across various sectors, (4) specialist training in CAMH, (5) integration of CAMH care into primary health care, education and the social welfare system, (6) further research on local explanations of child mental disorders and the effect they have on the well-being of the child, and (7) a careful consideration of the role of religious healers as care providers.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 10 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 286 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 1 <1%
Unknown 285 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 40 14%
Researcher 38 13%
Student > Bachelor 32 11%
Student > Doctoral Student 25 9%
Student > Ph. D. Student 19 7%
Other 52 18%
Unknown 80 28%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Psychology 51 18%
Medicine and Dentistry 45 16%
Social Sciences 32 11%
Nursing and Health Professions 30 10%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 6 2%
Other 36 13%
Unknown 86 30%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 7. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 15 July 2016.
All research outputs
#5,008,635
of 24,673,288 outputs
Outputs from International Journal of Mental Health Systems
#320
of 746 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#83,706
of 359,426 outputs
Outputs of similar age from International Journal of Mental Health Systems
#7
of 12 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 24,673,288 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 79th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 746 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 8.8. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 57% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 359,426 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 76% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 12 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 50% of its contemporaries.