Participants’ experiences of engagement in community-centred mental health and psychosocial support programmes in conflict-affected communities within sub-Saharan Africa: a qualitative systematic review

BACKGROUND: Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) experienced a burden of organised violence within 18 low-income and middle-income countries and hosted over 33 million displaced persons in 2019. Community-centred mental health and psychosocial support (cc-MHPSS) programmes may provide insights to address the psychosocial well-being of conflict-affected individuals, though literature is mixed on community impact. This review aimed to synthesise qualitative evidence to understand the kind of experiences conflict-affected participants have and how these experiences occur during cc-MHPSS programme engagement in SSA. METHODS: We searched Global Health, MEDLINE, Psychological Information Database, Embase Classic+Embase, Social Policy and Practice, Web of Science, Africa-Wide Information, PubMed and Global Index Medicus databases. Eligible publications qualitatively reported on conflict-affected participants’ experiences of engagement in cc-MHPSS programmes. Data were extracted to summarise publication characteristics. The results were synthesised using a thematic synthesis analysis. RESULTS: The search yielded 953 records, of which 20 publications were included in the review. Included publications were located in Rwanda (n=8), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (n=3), Mozambique (n=3), Sierra Leone (n=1), Ghana (n=1), Uganda (n=1), Zimbabwe (n=1) and South Sudan (n=1); one publication included three countries (Sierra Leone, Liberia and Uganda). Findings include the themes of (1) the experience of change in time and space, and (2) the sharing and silence of participants’ experiences. Findings demonstrate that elements transferred by participants from a cc-MHPSS programme to a natural community, and vice versa, contribute to participants’ healing. Elements’ transfer, or non-transfer, was often related to participants’ disclosure, or non-disclosure, of experiences. DISCUSSION: Findings suggest that there are elements from a cc-MHPSS programme and a wider community which aid participant engagement and work therapeutically. More rigorous research is needed concerning how participants experience change during cc-MHPSS programme engagement in proximity to their relationship with the wider community. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42020197300.