Research Article
Trust and Misinformation in Youth Digital Mental Health Information-Seeking in Kenya: Implications for Diagnosis Accuracy and Treatment-Seeking Behavior
Rosemary Judith Akoth Odhiambo*
Issue:
Volume 11, Issue 3, June 2026
Pages:
52-63
Received:
24 January 2026
Accepted:
9 February 2026
Published:
27 August 2026
Abstract: Digital platforms have become primary environments through which Kenyan youth seek mental health information, interpret psychological distress, and decide whether to pursue professional care. While digital mental health information-seeking can enhance awareness, reduce stigma, and provide immediate psychosocial support, the credibility of online content remains uneven, exposing youth to misinformation, unregulated pseudo-therapy, and algorithm-reinforced diagnostic narratives. This study examines how trust and misinformation shape youth digital mental health information-seeking in Kenya, with particular attention to implications for perceived diagnosis accuracy and treatment-seeking behaviour. A convergent mixed-methods design was employed, integrating quantitative survey data from 412 Kenyan youth aged 15–29 years, recruited through a combination of educational institutions, youth-focused organisations, and online platforms, 28 key informant interviews with mental health practitioners, educators, digital safeguarding actors, and youth programme implementers, and structured platform and document analysis across seven mainstream digital environments (Google Search, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, and X/Twitter). Quantitative data were analysed descriptively to characterise prevalence patterns in digital help-seeking and self-diagnosis behaviours, while qualitative data were thematically analysed to contextualise trust formation, misinformation exposure, and governance gaps within everyday digital use. Results show that youth digital mental health engagement typically follows multi-platform pathways beginning with search-led self-triage and progressing into short-form social media spaces where identity-framed diagnostic content is highly prevalent. Over half of respondents reported adopting diagnostic labels following online exposure, based on self-perceived symptom alignment rather than clinical assessment, with identity-framing particularly pronounced in short-form feed environments. Trust was constructed primarily through relational and social heuristics—relatability (74%), confidentiality (69%), and peer endorsement (71%)—rather than professional verification cues (38%). Algorithmic amplification of symptom checklists and simplified diagnostic narratives increased diagnostic anchoring and self-label adoption, while simultaneously weakening transitions to formal mental health care. Ethical risks, including misinformation exposure (57%), privacy leakage (44%), unregulated counselling practices (39%), and weak crisis referral integration (61%), were widely reported across platforms. The findings highlight digital mental health information-seeking as both a protective and risky coping strategy for Kenyan youth. Strengthening perceived diagnostic understanding and appropriate treatment-seeking requires ecosystem-level interventions that embed credibility cues, algorithm-aware psychoeducation, safeguarding mechanisms, and referral pathways within everyday digital platforms. This study provides Kenya-specific evidence to inform youth-centred digital mental health governance and policy.
Abstract: Digital platforms have become primary environments through which Kenyan youth seek mental health information, interpret psychological distress, and decide whether to pursue professional care. While digital mental health information-seeking can enhance awareness, reduce stigma, and provide immediate psychosocial support, the credibility of online co...
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Research Article
The Act of Eating in the Cosmic Order: Analysis of Ritual Commensality in a Funerary Context Among the Peoples of Nkam, Littoral-Cameroon
Hen Mbah Romeo Gervain*
Issue:
Volume 11, Issue 3, June 2026
Pages:
64-78
Received:
26 January 2026
Accepted:
19 August 2026
Published:
15 September 2026
DOI:
10.11648/j.ijpbs.20261103.12
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Abstract: This article examines the act of eating within the cosmic order. More specifically, it explores the role of ritual commensality in restoring and maintaining harmonious relationships between the microcosm, the mesocosmos, and the macrocosm. The methodology combined group interviews, face-to-face exchanges, and field observation, with funerary contexts serving as the primary site of investigation. This approach allowed us to decipher the psychocultural and religious constructs that frame representation of death, existence, and universe among the people of Nkam division. The procedure was complemented by documentary analysis. The findings indicate that death generates not only an ontological rupture but also a disarticulation of the social framework. Funerary meals consecrate the symbolic reintegration of the bereaved family, previously “excluded”, into the social body. Furthermore, it is through ritual food sharing that mortuary energy is contained and that, access for the soul of the deceased to the afterlife is facilitated. Finally, within the framework of a celebration shared by terrestrial and “celestial” commensals, the deceased enters the realm of the ancestors. Sacred commensality therefore validates and confers its approval upon each stage of the process. The unity of the group is thus renewed, and the cosmic balance restored.
Abstract: This article examines the act of eating within the cosmic order. More specifically, it explores the role of ritual commensality in restoring and maintaining harmonious relationships between the microcosm, the mesocosmos, and the macrocosm. The methodology combined group interviews, face-to-face exchanges, and field observation, with funerary contex...
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