Mental Health Campaigns and Peer Support Groups in Urban Youth Centers: Outcomes in Sierra Leone Context

Mental health issues are prevalent among urban youth in Sierra Leone, necessitating effective interventions such as campaigns and peer support groups. The study employed a mixed-methods approach, including pre- and post-campaign surveys for quantitative analysis, and focus group discussions to gather qualitative insights. Pre-to-post campaign comparisons revealed an increase of 40% in participants' awareness scores regarding mental health issues (mean score: 75 out of 100). Peer support groups significantly enhanced participant engagement and self-reported mental well-being, with a median improvement rate of 25%. Further research should explore scalability and sustainability strategies for these interventions in urban youth settings. Model estimation used $\hat{\theta}=argmin_{\theta}\sum_i\ell(y_i,f_\theta(x_i))+\lambda\lVert\theta\rVert_2^2$, with performance evaluated using out-of-sample error.