A Comparison of two measures of quality of life of Nigerian clinic patients with type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Background: We present data comparing the quality of life effects of type 2 diabetes determined by the Bradley well-being questionnaire and the WHOQOL-BREF, a generic instrument. We also present data on the reliability and validity of these instruments. Method: The Well-being and the WHO- bref were administered on fifty-three consecutive type 2 diabetics. The internal consistency of the quality of life scales was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. Convergent, discriminant, and known groups validity were determined and compared. Results: Our patients had a mean age of 55.8±13 years. 31(58.5%) were males and all patients had been diabetic for 7.9±7.1 years. 13(24.5%) were being treated with oral agents, 14(26.4%) were on insulin and 26(49.1%) were on combined therapy. The Cronbach alpha coefficients ranged from 0.31 to 0.72 on the Well-being subscales and from 0.47 to 0.78 on the WHOQOL-BREF subscales. Both scales were modestly related to one another. In general the quality of life measures were not influenced by characteristics such as age, gender, marital or educational status. Both scales were not influenced significantly by treatment type or the severity or number of complications. Conclusion: Our study has shown how two different measures of quality of life perform in patients with type 2 diabetes. Even though the subscales of the Well-being and WHOQOL-BREF were not very sensitive to external criteria of disease impact (complications) casting a doubt on their utility as psychological outcome measures, they demonstrated fairly reasonable internal consistency in our patients with type 2 diabetes. Further larger studies are thus required to clarify this given our present limitations

Personality Traits among Inmates of Aba Prison in Nigeria: Influence of the Five Factor Model on Inmate Status and type of Offences

Background: Personality traits are the basic elements in the study of personality and it influences decision making by affecting our choices about whether to engage in different behaviours. Knowledge of the different personality traits among prison inmate is useful as it will assists in the development of interventions and strategies that target people with specific trait profiles so as to maximize their effectiveness in changing behaviour.Aim: To assess the personality traits of inmates in Aba prisonMethods: Four hundred and six inmates were studied. Each inmate completed a semi-structured sociodemographic questionnaire and personality traits were assessed with the 44-item Big Five Inventory.Results: The majority (72.7%) of the inmates were within the age range of 21 - 40 years . The personality trait with the highest mean score was openness while neuroticism had the lowest mean score. A large proportion of the inmates were awaiting trial (94.6%) while only few were convicted inmates (5.4%). The most common type of offence among the inmate was armed robbery (34.0%), followed by stealing, murder and assault (29.6%, 17.0% and 15.0 respectively) while rape and kidnapping were the least common offence (0.5% and 0.2% respectively). The convicted inmates reported significant higher mean scores on extraversion and agreeableness than the awaiting trial inmates. There were significant differences in all Big Five personality domain scores in the different inmate's charges using ANOVA except in neuroticism.Conclusion: The findings of high extraversion and agreeableness traits among Nigerian convicted inmates and significant differences in personality trait of the different inmate charges open up new opportunities for further researc

Depression and its association with psychological factors among adolescents living with HIV in Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract Objective The aim was to determine the prevalence of depressive disorder and associated psychological factors among adolescents living with HIV/AIDS. Methods One hundred and five adolescents with HIV were assessed for self-esteem, internalized HIV stigma and diagnosed of depressive disorder. Chi square and t tests were used to test associations and hierarchical logistic regression used to identify independent risk factors for depression. Results The mean age of participants was 16.5 (± 1.97) years and 55.2% were males. Mean stigma scores were significantly higher in those with depressive disorder (16.53 ± 3.85) when compared with those without (13.42 ± 3.464) and this difference was statistically significant (t = 3.17, p = 0.01). The mean self-esteem scores were significantly lower in participants with depressive disorder (17.53 ± 4.69) compared to those without depressive disorder (19.71 ± 3.86), though not significant (t = 1.96, p = 0.053). Depressive disorder was further significantly associated with female sex, being in romantic relationship, decline in work output due to HIV and HIV stigma. Independent risk factors were sex and HIV stigma. Conclusion Depressive disorder is common among adolescents living with HIV infection in Nigeria. The association between HIV stigma and depression, thus suggests the need for prevention strategies targeting the impacts of HIV infection among adolescents