Effects of Adolescent-Focused Integrated Social Protection on Depression: A Pragmatic Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial of Tanzania's Cash Plus Intervention.

ABSTRACT: We assessed the impacts of Tanzania's adolescent-focused Cash Plus intervention on depression. In this pragmatic cluster-randomized controlled trial, 130 villages were randomly allocated to an intervention or control arm (1:1). Youth aged 14-19 years living in households receiving governmental cash transfers were invited to participate. The intervention included an intensive period (a 12-session course) and an aftercare period (9 months of mentoring, productive grants, and strengthened health services). We examined intervention impacts on a depressive symptoms scale (10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale score (range, 0-30)) and rates of depressive symptomatology (score ≥10 points on the scale), recorded at study baseline (April-June 2017), midline (May-July 2018), and

SUBMITTER: Prencipe L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9437816 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature