Perceived personal attributes of the mentally ill in South-Western Nigeria

No Abstrac

EMOTIONAL DISTRESS AND SELF-REPORTED QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG PRIMARY CAREGIVERS OF STROKE SURVIVORS IN NIGERIA

Objectives: To investigate emotional symptoms and domain quality of life (QOL) among primary caregivers of stroke survivors and to determine survivor-related and caregiver-related predictors of these variables.Design: A cross-sectional study.Setting: Medical units of the two major hospitals of the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, ile-Ife, Nigeria.Subjects: One hundred and three matched-pairs of caregivers of stroke survivors and caregivers of mild hypertensive patients, and 103 stroke survivors.Results: Twenty three (22.3%) and 25(24.3%) stroke caregivers were observed with clinically significant anxiety and depressive symptoms respectively compared with 12(11.7%) and 14(13.6%) subjects in the control group. Stroke caregivers were observed with significantly higher mean anxiety and depressions scores, and also, with significantly lower mean scores on the four QOLdomains (physical health, psychological health, social relationships and environment). By multiple linear regression analysis, anxiety symptoms in stroke caregivers were predicted by high socioeconomic status of survivors and paresis in them. Depressive symptoms were predicted by high caregivers’ age and depression in the patients. Higher QOL on one or more WHOQOL-Bref domainswas predicted by intimate relationship with survivor, female gender of caregiver, longer duration of caring, higher education of survivor and higher age of survivor. Low QOL on one or more domain(s) was predicted by higher caregivers’ age, carers’ perception of survivor as cooperative, female gender of survivor, depression in survivor, paresis and cognitive impairment in survivor.Conclusion: Caregiving imposes high burden on stroke carers. Attention should be paid to their psychological needs and services should be designed for them to ameliorate the burden

POST PARTUM EMOTIONAL DISTRESS IN MOTHERS OF PRETERM INFANTS: A CONTROLLED STUDY

ABSTRACTObjectives: To investigate whether mothers of preterm infants experience morepsychological distress than mothers of normal full term infants in the immediatepostpartum period.Design: Cross sectional prospective study of postpartal women using the Beck DepressionInventory(BDI) and the GHQ-30.Setting: Neonatal intensive care units and the obstetric units of Wesley Guild Hospital,Ilesa or Multipurpose Health Centre, Ilesa(These are component Units of ObafemiAwolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Osun State Nigeria).Results: Of the 60 postnatal women recruited into the study, 33 mothers of pretermneonates formed the index group and 27 mothers of full term normal infants constitutedthe control group. More mothers of preterm neonates(27.3%) had GHQ-30 scores whichcategorised them as having significant emotional distress than mothers of full termnormal infants(3.7%). Similarly more mothers of preterm neonates(15.1%) were moredepressed than mothers of full term normal infants(3.7%). These differences were foundto be statistically significant when the mean scores of the two groups on the instrumentswere compared.Conclusion: These problems are not usually detected nor appropriately referred by thepaediatrician/obstetrician to the psychiatrist. This has a number of implications forpreventive psychiatry. A multidisciplinary approach is therefore essential in the detectionand management of these problems

Post partum emotional distress in mothers of preterm infants: a controlled study

Objectives: To investigate whether mothers of preterm infants experience more psychological distress than mothers of normal full term infants in the immediate postpartum period. Design: Cross sectional prospective study of postpartal women using the Beck Depression Inventory(BDI) and the GHQ-30. Setting: Neonatal intensive care units and the obstetric units of Wesley Guild Hospital, Ilesa or Multipurpose Health Centre, Ilesa(These are component Units of Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Osun State Nigeria). Results: Of the 60 postnatal women recruited into the study, 33 mothers of preterm neonates formed the index group and 27 mothers of full term normal infants constituted the control group. More mothers of preterm neonates(27.3%) had GHQ-30 scores which categorised them as having significant emotional distress than mothers of full term normal infants(3.7%). Similarly more mothers of preterm neonates(15.1%) were more depressed than mothers of full term normal infants(3.7%). These differences were found to be statistically significant when the mean scores of the two groups on the instruments were compared. Conclusion: These problems are not usually detected nor appropriately referred by the paediatrician/obstetrician to the psychiatrist. This has a number of implications for preventive psychiatry. A multidisciplinary approach is therefore essential in the detection and management of these problems. (East African Medical Journal: 2003 80(6): 289-292