The digital revolution has fundamentally transformed childhood experience across the globe. In Ghana, rapid mobile internet penetration, the proliferation of low-cost smartphones, and COVID-19-induced remote learning have dramatically intensified basic school children's exposure to digital screens. Emerging evidence links digital screen addiction (DSA) to significant impairments in children's psychological well-being encompassing emotional, cognitive, social, and behavioural dimensions. Yet, school management responses in Ghanaian basic schools remain underdeveloped and largely uncoordinated. This narrative literature review synthesizes global and sub-Saharan African evidence on digital screen addiction and its psychological well-being consequences among basic school children (ages 5–15), critically examines existing school management frameworks, and proposes a School-Based Digital Wellness Management Framework (SBDWMF) for Ghanaian basic schools. A narrative synthesis approach was employed. Literature was sourced from PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, PsycINFO, African Journals Online (AJOL), and grey literature from the WHO, UNESCO, UNICEF, Ghana Education Service (GES), Ghana Health Service (GHS), and the Ministry of Education. Peer-reviewed empirical studies, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and policy documents published from 2010 to 2024 were included, with a total of 72 sources forming the evidence base. DSA is prevalent among basic school-age children globally, with pooled prevalence estimates ranging from 19% to 38% depending on measurement tools and contexts. Excessive screen exposure is consistently associated with psychological distress, anxiety, depression, attentional difficulties, emotional dysregulation, impaired self-esteem, peer-relationship deficits, and poor academic well-being. In Ghana, contextual risk amplifiers, including parental digital literacy gaps, absent school mental health services, post-COVID normalization of extended screen use, and fragmented policy, compound the psychological burden. School management frameworks in Ghanaian basic schools are largely inadequate to address DSA, with critical deficits in policy, counselling capacity, teacher training, and parental engagement. DSA poses a mounting psychological well-being challenge for Ghanaian basic school children, demanding an urgent, evidence-informed school management response. The proposed six-pillar SBDWMF offers a practical governance architecture for Ghanaian basic school heads, district education officers, and national policymakers to address DSA comprehensively within the school setting. Read more

Background: Postpartum depression (PPD) is a major public health issue affecting maternal and child health globally, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Despite its high burden, the use of effective coping strategies for managing PPD remains limited. Aim: This study assessed the prevalence of PPD and the coping strategies among women of reproductive age in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 150 pregnant women with previous childbirth experience in a selected primary Health Centre, Ado-Ekiti, Southwestern Nigeria, using consecutive sampling. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) developed by Cox et al, and the Ways of Coping Questionnaire developed by Lazarus and Folkway. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and interpretive analysis of coping patterns. Results: Participants were predominantly aged 25-29 years (34.9%) and married (76.0%), with most having a tertiary education (78.7%). The mean EPDS score was 16.4 , indicating that a substantial proportion of respondents experienced moderate to severe postpartum depressive symptoms. High prevalence includes self-blame (62.6%), sleep disturbances (60.0%), sadness (60.0%), frequent crying (64.0%), and, notably, self-harm ideation (80.0%), representing a critical clinical concern. Coping strategies were predominantly emotion-focused, with high use of escape-avoidance (54.7%), distancing (52.0%), self-controlling (51.3%), and accepting responsibility (self-blame: 63.3%), showing a reliance on internalized, potentially maladaptive coping mechanisms. However, seeking social support (60.0%) and positive reappraisal (52.0%) reflected some adaptive coping capacity. Conclusion: The study reveals a high burden of postpartum depression alongside a mixed coping profile dominated by maladaptive strategies. The presence of self-harm ideas and avoidance-based coping underscore the need for urgent routine screening, early identification, and integration of mental health services into maternal care. Read more

This study assessed the knowledge, attitude, and perception of mental health nurses toward electroconvulsive therapy in two neuropsychiatric hospitals in South-West, Nigeria. A descriptive cross-sectional design was used to survey 374 mental health nurses working in the Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta, and Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Yaba. Data collected through questionnaires were     analyzed using descriptive statistics. Findings showed that 282(75.3%) of nurses demonstrated high knowledge of ECT Mean = 16.13 (SD = 2.96) , 191(51.0%) had moderate perceptions with Mean = 56.18 (SD = 8.31) and 274(73.2%) reporting favorable attitudes Mean = 27.38 (SD = 4.55).     Knowledge showed a significant positive correlation with perception (r = 0.32, p > 0.05) and attitude (r = 0.39, p > 0.05). Years of work experience were insignificant to attitude (F(193) = 0.98, p < 0.05). The study concluded that nurses demonstrated high knowledge, moderate perception, and positive attitudes toward ECT. These findings provide evidence for continuous training to strengthen the quality of ECT practice in psychiatry. Read more

Mental health challenges are becoming a major concern among university students who still have limited access to appropriate and affordable support due to barriers such as stigma, cost, and time limitations. Most of the digital tools available, such as Wysa and Woebot, are based on rigid rule-based logic and are incapable of understanding the contextual nuances of student-expressed emotional distress. For this system, a system-oriented, agile research methodology was used. Three public datasets the Mental Health Text Classification Dataset, the Reddit Depression Dataset, and the EmpatheticDialogues Dataset, were combined and balanced to create a training corpus of 24,000 labeled entries equally distributed across three emotional categories: depressive, anxious, and neutral. The Mental-BERT transformer model was trained on this corpus in five epochs with the help of Google Colab's GPU infrastructure. This classification model was then incorporated into a Flask web backend, together with the Groq API for conversational response generation, a PostgreSQL relational database for secure data persistence, and a web-based frontend consisting of a responsive chat interface with user authentication. After evaluating the fine-tuned Mental-BERT model on a test set of 3,600 samples that were not used during training, the overall classification accuracy was 96%. Also, the macro-averaged precision, recall, and F1-score were equally high at 96% across the three classes. We carried out a user study with 58 university students who gave a mean System Usability Scale score of 76.55 for MindBridge. That score belongs to the good usability category and is also above the industry average threshold of 68. More than 70% of participants graded the system as Good or Excellent. Empathy and conversational quality metrics showed that the respondents considered MindBridge a source of empathy and assistance, while the mean figure for perceived usefulness was 4.03 out of 5. All 16 automated system tests were successfully passed. Results show that using a domain-specific pre-trained transformer model alongside prompt-engineered large language model response generation and a hybrid safety architecture can lead to the development of a very accurate, usable, and empathetic mental health support system for university students. Read more

This qualitative study explored the ripple effects of campus sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) on students at a Zimbabwean university. The purpose was to use the findings to inform the development of a conceptual framework to prevent and mitigate campus violence effects and foster safer learning environments. Adopting a constructivist philosophy and interpretivist phenomenological design, the study utilized the 7P theoretical framework. Data from 40 participants, selected via maximum variation purposive sampling, were analyzed using Colaizzi's method. Findings revealed profound impacts: victims experienced significant mental health deterioration (stress, depression, suicidal ideation), damaged self-perception, academic decline, social stigma and isolation. Female students were disproportionately affected. The study recommended an urgent need for enhanced campus safety, robust mental health resources and the creation of supportive, inclusive environments to mitigate these pervasive consequences. Read more

Background: Nigeria is experiencing a growing burden of stress-related and common mental disorders alongside rapid dietary transitions characterized by increased consumption of refined, low-fibre foods. Evidence from nutritional psychiatry indicates that the gut–brain axis plays a central role in emotional regulation and stress resilience, with dietary fibre acting as a key modulator of gut microbiota, neuroinflammation, and neurotransmitter synthesis. Cassava-based fufu, a major staple and culturally significant comfort food, was traditionally prepared in fibre-rich forms, but modern processing methods increasingly reduce its fibre content. Objective: This paper examined the psychobiotic potential of fibre-rich cassava-based fufu as a culturally grounded dietary strategy for promoting psychological safety and mental well-being in Nigeria. Methods: A narrative theoretical synthesis was undertaken, integrating literature from nutritional psychiatry, gut–brain axis research, cultural psychology, and traditional African food processing. The review focused on biological pathways linking dietary fibre to short-chain fatty acid production, serotonergic and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis regulation, and glycaemic stability, as well as the psychosocial functions of comfort foods in emotional security and social bonding. Results: Fibre-rich cassava-based fufu was shown to possess multiple psychobiotic properties, including enhancement of gut microbial diversity, increased production of neuroactive metabolites, reduction of systemic inflammation, and stabilization of stress-related neuroendocrine responses. Psychologically, its cultural familiarity, sensory continuity, and role in communal eating practices support emotional regulation, identity affirmation, and psychological safety. Conclusion: Fibre-rich cassava-based fufu can be conceptualized as a culturally congruent psychobiotic food with potential value for public mental health promotion. Integrating nutritionally enhanced traditional staples into dietary guidelines, community nutrition programmes, and primary mental healthcare may provide a low-cost, non-stigmatizing strategy for strengthening stress resilience and emotional well-being through biologically and culturally grounded pathways. Read more

Menopause is a significant biological transition marked by physical and psychological symptoms, including hot flashes, insomnia, mood disturbances, and cognitive difficulties. While many women employ adaptive coping strategies, some resort to substance use—such as alcohol, tobacco, sedatives, or illicit drugs—as a maladaptive means of managing distress. This scoping review examined the psychological dimensions of substance use during menopause, synthesizing evidence from 2011 to 2025 across multiple databases. Findings reveal that 65% of menopausal women use alcohol, followed by tobacco (45%), sedatives (30%), and cannabis (15%), primarily for self-medication of anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbances. Psychological motivations include trauma reactivation, identity loss, and social isolation, with substance use often exacerbating cognitive decline and emotional instability. Sociocultural factors, including stigma and inadequate healthcare access, further compound these risks. Effective interventions identified include cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), mindfulness-based stress reduction, and peer support groups, though gaps remain in culturally tailored and low-resource settings. The review emphasized the need for integrated care models that address substance use within the biopsychosocial context of menopause, alongside improved screening and trauma-informed approaches. Recommendations emphasize routine substance use assessments in menopause care, expanded mental health services, and targeted research on underrepresented populations. Read more

Studying the impact of stress in students is crucial due to its association with mental health, academic performance, and overall well-being. This study was done because there is no existing literature that examines the interplay between the individual self-efficacy of Nigerian students, their daily stressors, and the presence of any symptoms of adverse mental health. This current research investigates the mediating effect of self-efficacy on the associations between daily life stressors and their impact on stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms. This cross-sectional study was conducted among 321 students of a tertiary education institution in Lagos State, Nigeria. Standardized tools were used to generate numerical values for daily stressors, general self-efficacy, depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. Casual mediation analysis was conducted with daily stress as the exposure (X), general self-efficacy as the mediator (M), and negative mental health indicators (i.e., stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms) as the outcome (Y). The mean age of the students was 25.1 (±5.05) years. Most participants were female (74.5%) and working full-time while schooling (57%). The findings indicated that there is a positive interrelationship between symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression. At the same time, general self-efficacy was found to have a negative association with symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression. General self-efficacy, however, had no protective effects on either stress, anxiety, or depression symptoms. In conclusion, the study indicated that although the average Nigerian student had high values for general self-efficacy, it did not mediate the association between the mental health indices studied and brief daily stressors, i.e., subjective perceptions of mental resilience, even when high, offered no protection from depression, anxiety, or stress symptoms in the presence of daily life stressors. More awareness needs to be created about the relevance of the mental health of students, and conscious efforts should be put in place to reduce the stress of students. Further research also needs to be done on other factors affecting the mental well-being of students. Read more

Mental health challenges are highly prevalent among adolescents, with stigma representing a critical barrier to seeking help. The pervasive stigma associated with mental illness among students significantly threatens their mental health and well-being, discouraging help-seeking behaviours and worsening poor mental health outcomes. Although mental health interventions have been widely implemented globally, there is a notable lack of research evaluating their effectiveness in reducing mental illness stigma specifically among secondary school students in Ogun State, Nigeria. Consequently, this study investigated the impact of a Mental Health Literacy (MHL) intervention on reducing mental illness stigmatization among secondary school students in Ogun State, Nigeria. Read more

Palliative psychiatry is an emerging field focused on improving the quality of life for individuals with severe, chronic, and treatment-resistant psychiatric conditions. It emphasizes holistic, person-centered care that respects patients' dignity and addresses their physical, emotional, social, and existential needs. Unlike traditional psychiatric care, which prioritizes symptom reduction, palliative psychiatry acknowledges that some conditions may not respond to conventional treatments. Despite its potential, the field faces significant challenges, including limited research, inconsistent definitions, and a lack of standardized guidelines. Additionally, ethical issues, societal stigma, and insufficient training in psychiatric programs hinder its implementation. This article discusses current challenges and provides recommendations for developing guidelines and classification systems and integrating palliative psychiatry into clinical practice, ultimately improving care for individuals with severe mental illness. Read more