Document is current

Article History

Received: 17 December 2024

Accepted: 28 July 2025

First Online: 12 August 2025

Declarations

:

: The protocol to conduct and publish the findings from this study was approved by the Catholic University of Health and Allied Sciences/Bugando Medical Centre Joint Ethical Committee (CREC/710/2023), in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki. Permission to conduct this study was granted by the regional administrative and local government authorities (Ref. No. GB. 47/333/01). Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. For those participants less than 18 years of age, their assent and their parents’/guardians’ consent were sought and obtained prior to recruitment into the study. Participant identities were not included on the questionnaires or in the analysis, only numbers were used to maintain confidentiality. Those who were found to have high scores on depression symptoms or have active suicidal ideation were referred to and/or escorted to the psychiatry clinic in BMC for further clinical evaluation and follow-up.

: The authors declare no competing interests.