Effect of religiosity on maternal and child health practices in Cross River State, Nigeria

Background: Maternal and child health care is very important and crucial in the monitoring and evaluation of various developmental agenda especially in developing nations.Aim/Objective: This study was carried out to ascertain the effects of religiosity on maternal and child health practices in rural and urban Cross River State, Nigeria.Method: The study design was a comparative analytical cross-sectional study amongst mothers with under-five children in rural and urban households in Cross River State and the study populations comprise mothers of under-five children, traditional and traditional birth attendants in Cross River State. Sampling technique used to select respondents in the rural and urban sites was multistage sampling method and the sample size was determined using standard method of comparing two independent groups. For Focus Group Discussions (FGD), purposive sampling method was employed in both study sites. Religiosity was assessed using the ORA dimension of the Duke University Religion Index (DUREL), which is usually measured as frequency of attendance of organized religious activities. The study instrument was a semistructured questionnaire and data obtained was analyzed using SPSS version 21.0.Results: Statistical analysis showed that the age of mother, husband and marriage of women from the rural communities was significantly higher (P< 0.05) than that of women from the urban communities. Religious practices to have safe pregnancy did not significantly predict women having complications in last pregnancy in both study settings while in the rural and urban communities (P<0.05), religious practices significantly influenced family planning methods (P<0.05). In child health practices, religious practices significantly influenced the rural communities practice of breastfeeding child (P= 0.001) and giving child colostrum (P= 0.048) while in the urban communities, it significantly influenced giving child colostrum (P= 0.002).Conclusions: This study therefore concludes that religiosity significantly affects maternal and child health care practices in rural and urban communities of Cross River State, Nigeria and also serve as useful baseline for better understanding of the dynamics of influence of religiosity on maternal and child health practices in Cross River State of Nigeria.Recommendation: Maternal health education as well as education and engagement of spiritual leaders are highly recommended

Bullying Behavior and its Association with Mental Health Symptoms among Senior Secondary School Students in Calabar, Nigeria

Background: The nature of our psychosocial environment and one’s response to stressful daily events are key determinants of current and future mental health status. The school environment is one of such settings which expose young people to potentially undue  stress, especially through bully-prone interpersonal interaction with peers and older individuals. Although bullying is thought to be prevalent in secondary schools, only a few studies have investigated the association between bullying and the mental health status of secondary school students in developing countries. The present study seeks to obtain data that may be helpful in addressing this research gap. Methodology: This was a cross‑sectional analytic study. Astratified sampling technique was used to select six secondary schools within Calabar metropolis. Proportional allocation using a simple random sampling method was employed to recruit the  required number of senior secondary students from the selected schools. Multidimensional Peer Victimization Scale and Child and Youth Mental Health General Screening Questionnaires were used to assess for presence/degree of bullying and mental health problems, respectively. Mann–Whitney U-test and Spearman’s correlation analysis were used as inferential statistics, and P-value was considered significant if it was < 0.05. Results: Three hundred and four (304) respondents were surveyed, but complete data were obtained from 292. Their ages ranged from 13 to 20 years, with a mean age of 16.5 ± 2.1 years. The male-to-female ratio was 1:0.7. Within the past 12 months, 54.8% of the  respondents had bullied someone, while 62.3% had witnessed someone being bullied. Attack on the property was the most common form of bullying (61%), followed by social manipulation (52.7%), verbal (52.1%), and physical (47.9%) forms of victimization. Moderate-to-severe forms of social manipulation, physical victimization, verbal victimization, and attack on property forms of bullying were found in 26.0%, 26.7%, 28.8%, and 32.2% of respondents, respectively. The most frequently elevated component of mental health score in the respondents was conduct symptoms (50.7%), followed by mood symptoms (34.2%) and symptoms of generalized anxiety (19.2%). Respondents with abnormally elevated scores for hyperactivity/distractibility, conduct, generalized anxiety, and mood symptoms had significantly higher mean scores for each of the components of bullying assessed (P < 0.001). Elevated scores on oppositional defiant symptoms did not significantly influence the mean scores of each component of bullying, except for verbal victimization (P = 0.04). Asignificant positive correlation was observed between each component of bullying and each domain of mental health assessed (P < 0.001). A positive correlation was also observed between the total bullying score and each domain of mental health as well as the total mental health scores (P < 0.001). Of all the domains of mental health assessed, symptoms of hyperactivity/distractibility showed thestrongest positive correlation with a total bully score (r = 0.69, P < 0.001). Conclusion: The results from this study suggest that bullying is prevalent in our secondary schools, with a potential adverse effects on the mental health of affected individuals in the near or remote future. These findings may be useful for improvement in existing policies for school health programs in developing countries. Keywords: Bullying, Nigeria, psychological health, secondary school, senior secondary student