Emotional and behavioral problems (EBP) during childhood and adolescence are a common concern for parents and mental health stakeholders. However, little has been documented about their prevalence in Kenyan children and adolescents. This study aimed to close this gap. The study included Child Behavior Checklist reports from 1022 Kenyan parents on their children (ages 6–18 years) and Youth Self-Reports from 533 adolescents (ages 12–18) living in Kenya’s Central Province. EBP in Kenya are highly prevalent compared to multi-cultural standards for parent reports, with 27 and 17% scoring in the borderline and clinical range, respectively. Based on parent reports, younger children scored higher on EBP than older children, and higher on internalizing problems. Based on self-reports girls scored higher than boys, particularly on internalizing problems. The study provides evidence on elevated parent-reported EBP in Kenyan youths. Mental health providers should focus on interventions that reduce EBP in Kenyan youths.

ObjectivesDepression is associated with considerable impairments in health-related quality-of-life. However, the relationship between different health states related to depression severity and utility scores is unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether utility scores are different for various health states related to depression severity.MethodsWe gathered individual participant data from ten randomized controlled trials evaluating depression treatments. The UK EQ-5D and SF-6D tariffs were used to generate utility scores. We defined five health states that were proposed from American Psychiatric Association and National Institute for Clinical Excellence guidelines: remission, minor depression, mild depression, moderate depression, and severe depression. We performed multilevel linear regression analysis.ResultsWe included 1629 participants in the analyses. The average EQ-5D utility scores for the five health states were 0.70 (95% CI 0.67–0.73) for remission, 0.62 (95% CI 0.58–0.65) for minor depression, 0.57 (95% CI 0.54–0.61) for mild depression, 0.52 (95%CI 0.49–0.56) for moderate depression, and 0.39 (95% CI 0.35–0.43) for severe depression. In comparison with the EQ-5D, the utility scores based on the SF-6D were similar for remission (EQ-5D = 0.70 vs. SF-6D = 0.69), but higher for severe depression (EQ-5D = 0.39 vs. SF-6D = 0.55).ConclusionsWe observed statistically significant differences in utility scores between depression health states. Individuals with less severe depressive symptoms had on average statistically significant higher utility scores than individuals suffering from more severe depressive symptomatology. In the present study, EQ-5D had a larger range of values as compared to SF-6D.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi: 10.1007/s11136-017-1536-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Purpose To assess the quality of life (QoL) of children and adolescents in Kenya as rated by parents and youth themselves, and examine how QoL is related to emotional and behavioral problems (EBP). Method QoL and EBP reports were obtained from 1022 Kenyan parents and 533 adolescents living in the country’s Central Province. Parents with children between 6 and 18 years completed the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) and the Child Behavior Checklist, while the adolescents (12–18) completed the PedsQL and the Youth Self-Report. Results Parent-reported QoL in Kenyan youth was somewhat above that of US standardization samples, while levels of adolescent self-reports were well within the range of those from most high- and middle-income countries. Average adolescent girls’ self-reports were lower on all QoL scales than boys. QoL in children/adolescents with clinical to borderline levels of EBP (cf. multicultural norms, Achenbach and Rescorla, 2007) was lower than QoL in agemates with normal levels of EBP. Regression analyses indicated unique associations of QoL with parent-reported withdrawn/depressed, somatic complaints, attention problems, and aggressive behavior, and with adolescent self-reported somatic complaints, attention problems, and rule-breaking behavior. Conclusion QoL levels were well within ranges of other countries. Moreover, associations of QoL with EBP indicated that those with borderline/clinical levels of EBP had a much lower QoL most notable for those with somatic complaints and attention problems. Mental health providers might focus on interventions that reduce EBP in Kenyan children and adolescents and simultaneously reduce the risk of lowered QoL.

Background The Millennium Developmental Goals ensured a significant reduction in childhood mortality. However, this reduction simultaneously raised concerns about the long-term outcomes of survivors of early childhood insults. This systematic review focuses on the long-term neurocognitive and mental health outcomes of neonatal insults (NNI) survivors who are six years or older. Methods Two independent reviewers conducted a comprehensive search for empirical literature by combining index and free terms from the inception of the databases until 10 th October 2019. We also searched for additional relevant literature from grey literature and using reference tracking. Studies were included if they: were empirical studies conducted in humans; the study participants were followed at six years of age or longer; have an explicit diagnosis of NNI, and explicitly define the outcome and impairment. Medians and interquartile range (IQR) of the proportions of survivors of the different NNI with any impairment were calculated. A random-effect model was used to explore the estimates accounted for by each impairment domain. Results Fifty-two studies with 94,978 participants who survived NNI were included in this systematic review. The overall prevalence of impairment in the survivors of NNI was 10.0% (95% CI 9.8-10.2). The highest prevalence of impairment was accounted for by congenital rubella (38.8%: 95% CI 18.8-60.9), congenital cytomegalovirus (23.6%: 95% CI 9.5-41.5), and hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (23.3%: 95% CI 14.7-33.1) while neonatal jaundice has the lowest proportion (8.6%: 95% CI 2.7-17.3). The most affected domain was the neurodevelopmental domain (16.6%: 95% CI 13.6-19.8). The frequency of impairment was highest