SHADE-K

The SHADE-K project, led by the Africa Institute of Mental and Brain Health (AFRIMEB) in Kenya, in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh and the London School of Economics and Political Science in the UK, is a five-year project.

The study involves three linked phases. Phase one seeks to explore experiences of homelessness, mental illness, and disclosure through in-depth interviews with adolescents who are homeless and with mental illness, their ‘close relations’, and focus group discussions with community health promoters, health workers, and gatekeepers to identify barriers and facilitators to help-seeking and disclosure. Phase 2 brings together a co-development consortium of stakeholders (including adolescents with lived experience, peers, family members, clinicians, policy makers, researchers, service providers, among others) to adapt the evidence-based Honest, Open, Proud (HOP) peer-led programme for the Kenyan homeless adolescents with mental illness. In Phase three, the adapted HOP programme will be evaluated in a stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial among 184 adolescents who are homeless and with mental illness. Peer facilitators will deliver the three HOP sessions plus a booster session.

Why now: The study aims at reducing self-stigma and improving service engagement among homeless adolescents aged 10–19 with mental illness in Nairobi County.

Funders: The Child Mind Institute.

Research Lead:  Africa Institute of Mental and Brain Health (AFRIMEB), The University of Edinburgh, and the London School of Economics and Political Science in the UK.