Posttraumatic stress disorder diagnostic criteria and suicidal ideation in a South African Police sample

Objective: Exposure to traumatic events may precipitate suicidal ideation. Once an individual is diagnosed with PTSD, a suicide risk assessment often follows. This study explores how PTSD symptom criteria correlate with suicidal ideation in a sample of police officers. While the psychometric measures of PTSD often mirror the DSM-IV-TR criteria, focusing on exposure, symptom, and duration criteria, suicidal ideation measures often focus on concepts quite different from that. In this report the focus was on investigating how PTSD symptom criteria correlate with the suicidal ideation.Method: A group of South African police officers (N = 217) were assessed by means of the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale and a short version of the Adult Suicide Ideation Questionnaire. Linear and hierarchical regressions were used to determine which PTSD symptom criteria best predict suicidalideation.Results: Hyperarousal was the primary predictor of suicidal ideation (R2 [adjusted] = 0.249). Intrusive thoughts added only marginally to the model, contributing a further 2.5% to the declared variance. The contributions of the other two symptom types were negligible.Conclusion: In this study hyperarousal correlated significantly with suicidal ideation. It is suggested that practitioners be alert to these symptoms as possible indicators of suicidal ideation. Implications for suicide risk assessment and prevention measures are discussed.Keywords: Stress Disorders; Post-Traumatic; Suicidal ideation; Police; South Afric

Interpersonal violence: an important risk factor for disease and injury in South Africa

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Burden of disease estimates for South Africa have highlighted the particularly high rates of injuries related to interpersonal violence compared with other regions of the world, but these figures tell only part of the story. In addition to direct physical injury, violence survivors are at an increased risk of a wide range of psychological and behavioral problems. This study aimed to comprehensively quantify the excess disease burden attributable to exposure to interpersonal violence as a risk factor for disease and injury in South Africa.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The World Health Organization framework of interpersonal violence was adapted. Physical injury mortality and disability were categorically attributed to interpersonal violence. In addition, exposure to child sexual abuse and intimate partner violence, subcategories of interpersonal violence, were treated as risk factors for disease and injury using counterfactual estimation and comparative risk assessment methods. Adjustments were made to account for the combined exposure state of having experienced both child sexual abuse and intimate partner violence.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 17 risk factors included in the South African Comparative Risk Assessment study, interpersonal violence was the second leading cause of healthy years of life lost, after unsafe sex, accounting for 1.7 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) or 10.5% of all DALYs (95% uncertainty interval: 8.5%-12.5%) in 2000. In women, intimate partner violence accounted for 50% and child sexual abuse for 32% of the total attributable DALYs.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The implications of our findings are that estimates that include only the direct injury burden seriously underrepresent the full health impact of interpersonal violence. Violence is an important direct and indirect cause of health loss and should be recognized as a priority health problem as well as a human rights and social issue. This study highlights the difficulties in measuring the disease burden from interpersonal violence as a risk factor and the need to improve the epidemiological data on the prevalence and risks for the different forms of interpersonal violence to complete the picture. Given the extent of the burden, it is essential that innovative research be supported to identify social policy and other interventions that address both the individual and societal aspects of violence.</p

THE PREVALENCE OF CHILD ABUSE AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS (Brief Report)

This is an investigation into the prevalence of child psychological, physical, emotional, and ritualistic abuse among a sample of university students. A retrospective self-rating questionnaire was completed by 722 University of the North undergraduate students (South Africa) in a classroom setting. The questionnaire addressed the demographic variables of the participants; psychological, physical, and emotional abusive experiences from their parents or adult caretakers before the age of 17 years; and ritualistic abusive experiences before the age of 17 years. The prevalence rates were as follows: 79.1% (N=526) for psychological abused, 16.2% (N=110) for physical abuse, 28.5% (N=194) for emotional abuse, 6.0% (N=37) for ritualistic abuse. The author calls for an awareness campaign in those areas of child abuse and for awareness making of the public about the possible short and long-term effects of such abusive behaviours on children. Southern African Jnl Child and Adolescent Mental Health Vol.14(2) 2002: 123-12

Psychological impact of infertility among women in Benin City, Nigeria

Infertility has profound negative consequences especially for women in developing countries. The study evaluated the psychological impact of infertility among women in Benin City, Nigeria. The study was conducted between October 2004 and April 2006. A total of the 312 women (mean age = 31.27 years, SEM ± 0.32) comprising 156 infertile women and 156 pregnant women participated in the study. The Awaritefe Psychological Index (API) was used to assess level of psychological dysfunction. Data were analyzed descriptively and analytically. Result shows that infertile women did not differ from fertile women as determined by API total score. Women with primary infertility were significantly different from women with secondary infertility on the API and were more susceptible to psychological dysfunction. Mood disturbance was the most frequent symptom expressed by the infertile women There is a need for a re-orientation and widespread enlightenment on the need to perceive womanhood in its own right devoid of sentiments of motherhood. In the light of the psychological implication of infertility highlighted in this study, it is recommended that psychology clinics be run parallel to obstetric and gynecology clinics for a comprehensive management of infertility. Gender and Behaviour. Vol. 4 (2) 2006: pp. 896-90

Attitude of male and female students towards the use of internet

The use of the internet for research and studies is now a thing of necessity world-wide, and having a positive attitude toward the use of the Internet is a necessary condition for its effective use. Thus, this research aimed at investigating the attitudes of male and female undergraduate students at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, towards the use of the Internet. A questionnaire which captured the students’ demographic data (like sex,faculty),and their attitudes towards the use of internet, was administered to them in a class-room setting. Results show that most the students had a positive attitude towards the use of the internet; and there was no significant difference between the attitude of males and that of females. It is thereforerecommended that parents, teachers, and the university administrators should encourage both male and female students equally to use theinternet for their research and studies. More studies, using a wider audience as participants, are encouraged

Cardiovascular disease risk factors amongst secondary school students in an urban community in Nigeria

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Concepts and treatment for diabetes among traditional and faith healers in the Northern Province, South Africa

The purpose of the study was to assess the concepts and treatment modalities for diabetes among traditional and faith healers in the Northern Province in South Africa. The sample consisted of 50 traditional healers (13 females and 37 males) and 50 faith healers (12 females and 38 males). They were interviewed on local terminology, clinical manifestations, causes, curability, and treatment for diabetes, help-seeking behaviour of diabetes patients, and the healers’ sources of information about diabetes. Results indicate that all healers were familiar with “diabetes”, however, not all of them had seen patients suffering from diabetes. The perceived causes of diabetes by both traditional and faith healers could be divided into (1) diet (especially too much of sugar), (2) heredity, (3) supernatural, and (4) psychological causes. Most traditional healers (92%) and faith healers (90%) indicated that diabetes is curable. Treatments used by the healers in this study included the use of prayer, diet, and herbs. The authors conclude that the concepts and treatment modalities for diabetes among traditional and faith healers should be taken note of by health workers while developing health education programmes in the Province