Citation

Kodzo LD, Danso NAA, Budu JT, Akriti KB, Hussain A, Zhang R. Eur. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 2024; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00787-024-02473-z

PMID

38809300

Abstract

Given the multifaceted character of depression and its related symptoms, an adolescent living with it is at increased risk for a wide range of adverse events. This research aimed to understand and characterize the psychosocial rehabilitation experiences of depressed teenage participants in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. A cross-sectional semi-structured interview design influenced by an interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) technique was adopted. We employed a nonprobability, purposeful sampling approach to recruit twenty-one adolescents (6 males, 15 females) diagnosed with depression from the community after one month of discharge from admission and undergoing psychosocial rehabilitation. Using separate interviews, we gathered and analyzed data using interpretive phenomenological analysis to produce themes and sub-themes. These were presented with the participants' direct quotations. We discovered that the perspectives of adolescents' psychosocial rehabilitation experience include hopelessness and suicide ideation, coping difficulties, undesirable attitudes from support networks, challenges related to school, and isolation. Participants suggested appropriate therapeutic environments, encouraging support systems, and the media's role in preventing and treating depression among young people as rehabilitation approaches that could assist adolescents to remain lucid for longer intervals. These results shed light on the tragic realities faced by depressed adolescents. There is an urgent need to put well-defined structures in place to aid their rehabilitation and develop coping strategies for a better life.

Language: en

Keywords

Adolescent; Depression; Ghana; Greater Accra Region; Perspective; Psychosocial rehabilitation