Onu JU, Onyeka TC.
Nigeria's mental healthcare workforce shortage poses a major obstacle to scaling up mental health services, and digital psychiatry has been proposed to help bridge this treatment gap. This scoping review, following PRISMA-ScR guidelines and the Arksey and O'Malley framework, searched PubMed, Google Scholar, and journal references for peer-reviewed articles on digital psychiatry in Nigeria published between January 2013 and January 2023, excluding case reports and reviews. Fourteen studies met inclusion criteria, comprising six randomized controlled trials, six cross-sectional studies, and two qualitative studies, focused on implementation and intervention research and demonstrating the efficacy of digital devices in improving depression outcomes and clinic appointment attendance. The authors conclude that digital technology appears acceptable to Nigerian patients and clinicians, and that policy support is needed to operationalize digital mental healthcare services.
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