JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Many adolescents in Uganda are affected by common mental disorders, but few affordable treatment options are available. Digital mental health interventions offer promising opportunities to reduce these large treatment gaps, but interventions specifically tailored for Ugandan adolescents are limited.

Objective:

To determine the feasibility and acceptability of the Kuamsha program, an intervention delivered through a gamified app with low-intensity telephonic guidance, as a way to promote mental health among adolescents from the general population in Uganda.

Methods:

A 3-month pre-post single-arm trial was conducted with adolescents aged between 15 and 19 living in Wakiso District, Central Uganda. The intervention was coproduced with adolescents from the study site to ensure that it was culturally acceptable. The feasibility and acceptability of the intervention were evaluated using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach. Feasibility was assessed by collecting data on trial retention rates and treatment adherence rates. Acceptability was assessed through a questionnaire and in-depth interviews with participants following the conclusion of the intervention period. As a secondary objective, we assessed the changes in participants’ mental health before and after the intervention.

Results:

A total of 31 adolescents were recruited for the study. Results from the study showed high levels of feasibility and acceptability. Trial retention rates exceeded 90%, and treatment adherence was above 80%. These results, evaluated against our predefined trial progression criteria, indicate a successful feasibility study, with all criteria exceeding the thresholds necessary to progress to a larger trial. App engagement metrics, such as time spent on the app and modules completed, exceeded existing literature benchmarks, and many adolescents continued to use the app post-intervention. In-depth interviews and questionnaire responses revealed high acceptability levels. Depressive symptoms trended towards reduction (mean difference: 1.41, 95% CI -0.60, 3.42, Cohen’s d = 0.30). Supporting this trend, we also observed a reduction in the proportion of participants with moderate depressive symptoms from 32% to 17% post-intervention.

Conclusions:

This study presents evidence to support the Kuamsha program as a feasible and acceptable digital mental health for adolescents in Uganda. A fully powered randomized controlled trial is needed to assess its effectiveness in improving adolescents’ mental health.