Non-pharmacological interventions for depression in Kenya: a scoping review

Depression management is affected by restricted budgets for mental health care in sub-Saharan Africa countries. There is need for integration of non-pharmacological interventions in primary care. This scoping review aimed to summarize research on available non-pharmacological interventions and their effectiveness against depression in Kenya.

We searched PubMed, ScienceDirect, AJOL, EBSCOhost, ProQuest and Cochrane Library databases for articles reporting non-pharmacological interventions in Kenya published in English between 2000 and May 2023.

Twenty-four articles that reported psychosocial (n = 20) and socioeconomic (n = 4) interventions were included in the review. Most interventions were delivered by lay professionals. Clinical outcomes included significant reduction in depression scores and symptom severity posttreatment and reduction in likelihood of having depression symptoms. Interventions were also found to be feasible and acceptable.

Non-pharmacological interventions can be upscaled for the management of depression in Kenya.