A systematic review of the risk factors for suicidal ideation, suicidal attempt and completed suicide among children and adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa between 1986 and 2018: protocol for a systematic review of observational studies
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Date
2018
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Systematic reviews
Abstract
Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among children and adolescents. Most studies about
the burden and risk factors for suicide have been conducted in high-income countries. However, there is a dearth in
the literature about the burden and risk factors for suicide among children and adolescents in low- and middle-income
countries including within Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). There is need to summarise the available literature about the
burden and risk factors for suicide among children and adolescents in SSA. In this review, we will (a) determine the
overall prevalence of suicidal ideation, suicidal attempt and completed suicide among children and adolescents in SSA;
(b) describe the methods (such as hanging, firearms, overdose, poisoning, drowning and burning) used for suicidal
attempt, and completed suicide among children and adolescents in SSA; and (c) document the risk factors for suicidal
ideation, suicidal attempt and completed suicide among children and adolescents in SSA.
Methods: The review will be conducted and reported in accordance to the preferred reporting items for systematic
reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA) statement. We will include journal articles that have documented the prevalence
and risk factors for suicidal ideation, suicidal attempt and completed suicide among children and adolescents aged
5–19 years in SSA. We will also include accessible grey literature about the topic. Qualitative studies will be excluded
from the study since they are limited in estimating prevalence. We will search different search engines including
PUBMED, EMBASE, Psych-INFO, Cochrane Library, Africa wide-information and global health using suicide, adolescents
and children, SSA as the keywords. We will use a meta-analysis, should we find that there is no heterogeneity between
included studies.
Discussion: This protocol describes a systematic review of observational studies reporting completed suicide, suicidal
ideation and suicidal attempt among children and adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa. We anticipate that once this
review is complete and published, our findings will be of interest to adolescents with suicidal behaviour, their families
and caregivers, clinicians and other healthcare professionals, scientists and policy makers.
Description
Keywords
Suicide, Suicidal attempt, Suicidal ideation, Suicidal behaviour, Adolescents
Citation
Rukundo, G. Z., Kemigisha, E., Ocan, M., Adriko, W., & Akena, D. H. (2018). A systematic review of the risk factors for suicidal ideation, suicidal attempt and completed suicide among children and adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa between 1986 and 2018: protocol for a systematic review of observational studies. Systematic reviews, 7(1), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-018-0901-8