What is it about?
Our study provides for the first time a summary of all the research conducted on substance use in Kenya. The first article we found was published in 1980. Since then, the number of publications on substance use has greatly increased. We found that most of the scientific papers had focused on exploring the prevalence and factors associated with substance use. Other papers had focused on either testing interventions for substance use, or exploring people's views on various substance use related topics.
Featured Image
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Our paper identifies the research gaps in the substance use area in Kenya. This information will help researchers to know what areas to focus on when conducting future substance use research in Kenya. In addition, our study findings show that the rates of substance use are high in Kenya yet few studies have been done to develop and test interventions.
Perspectives
Writing this article was an exciting process. It was interesting to see how much work had been done on substance use over the years. The research team was dedicated and committed, and this was helpful especially because the work involved e.g. screening of abstracts and titles or conducting quality assessments can be daunting.
FLORENCE JAGUGA
Moi University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A systematic review of substance use and substance use disorder research in Kenya, PLoS ONE, June 2022, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0269340.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
