The profile of patients presenting with postpartum depression seen in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital

Introduction: Postpartum depression is one of the most common psychiatric complications of childbearing women. Most studies report that it has a high prevalence, but women at risk are rarely recognised during pregnancy and post-delivery. It is therefore often missed and, as a result, it has negative effects not only on the mother but also on the newborn infant. The aim of this study was to determine the profile of patients presenting with postpartum depression seen in the wards and outpatients section of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital (DGMAH). Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted where 150 consenting mothers at 6 weeks postpartum at the postnatal clinic were recruited from DGMAH using set inclusion and exclusion criteria. The participants were individually interviewed for socio-demographic characteristics. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression scale, a self-screening scale for depression, was used to evaluate for the prevalence of depression. Results: A total of 150 postnatal mothers were interviewed. The prevalence of postpartum depression at 6 weeks postpartum at DGMAH was found to be 8.9%. The age range of participants was between 18 and 44 years, with a mean age of 28.70 years. The majority of participants (149, 99.3%) were black people, 112 (74.7%) were single and 119 (79.3%) were unemployed. The most common mode of delivery was caesarean section (92.0%, 138), 74 (49.3%) had unplanned pregnancies and 76 (50.7%) were unsatisfied with the infant gender. Psychosocial stressors (p = 0.003) and infant’s birth weight of 2.5 kg (p = 0.005) were statistically associated with postpartum depression. Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of postpartum depression in South Africa. A routine screening of mothers at the peri-partum period and early intervention is recommend to avoid its consequences on the mother, family and developing children

The Substance Abuse Treatment Workforce of South Africa

The purpose of this paper is to describe characteristics of substance abuse treatment counselors in the Republic of South Africa, including demographics, education, training, and job duties. Counselors recruited from 24 treatment centers completed a survey after signing informed consent. Counselors were primarily female (75%), racially diverse (36.4% White, 30.8% Black, 18.9% Coloured, 12.6% Indian or Asian, and 1.4% Cape Malay), and were 38 years old on average. The majority (62.3%) held at least an equivalent of a bachelor’s degree, and just under half (49%) were registered social workers. Counselors had a mean of 5.3 years’ experience in substance abuse treatment. The substance abuse treatment workforce of South Africa appears to be young and educated, yet only one third of the counselors had any formal training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. South African counselors could benefit from more training in evidence-based techniques

Sub-specialties in psychiatry: Towards parity in mental health training and services

Neuropsychiatric disorders account for 5 of the 10 most disabling medical disorders worldwide,1 and for a particularly large component of the burden of disease in South Africa.2 Unfortunately, as elsewhere, training and services in psychiatry have lagged behind those of other major disciplines, and much additional work is needed to achieve parity. We focus in particular on the status of psychiatric sub-specialties in South Africa, considering the pros and cons of their recognition in a developing country

An approach to heroin use disorder intervention within the South African context: A content analysis study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The field of heroin use disorder intervention has been in transition in South Africa since the outbreak of the heroin epidemic. Yet despite growing evidence of an association between heroin users' use of supplementary intervention services and intervention outcomes, heroin use disorder intervention programmes in South Africa generally fail to meet international research-based intervention standards.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Semi-structured interviews with ten heroin use disorder specialists were conducted and the interviews were subjected to content analysis.</p> <p>Results and Discussion</p> <p>In terms of theory and practice, findings of the study suggest that the field of heroin use disorder intervention in South Africa remains fragmented and transitional. Specifically, limited strategic public health care polices that address the syndromes' complexities have been implemented within the South Africa context.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Although many interventions and procedures have begun to be integrated routinely into heroin use disorder clinical practice within the South African context, comorbidity factors, such as psychiatric illness and HIV/AIDS, need to be more cogently addressed. Pragmatic and evidence-based public health care policies designed to reduce the harmful consequences associated with heroin use still needs to be implemented in the South African context.</p

Priority areas for cannabis and cannabinoid product research in South Africa

No abstract available

World Addiction Medicine Reports : formation of the International Society of Addiction Medicine (ISAM) Global Expert Network (ISAM-GEN) and Its global surveys

Funding: All the infrastructure funding of this initiative is supported by the International Society of Addiction Medicine (ISAM). We will be open to fundraising for specific projects within the platform and future collaboration with external partners.Addiction medicine is a dynamic field that encompasses clinical practice and research in the context of societal, economic, and cultural factors at the local, national, regional, and global levels. This field has evolved profoundly during the past decades in terms of scopes and activities with the contribution of addiction medicine scientists and professionals globally. The dynamic nature of drug addiction at the global level has resulted in a crucial need for developing an international collaborative network of addiction societies, treatment programs and experts to monitor emerging national, regional, and global concerns. This protocol paper presents methodological details of running longitudinal surveys at national, regional, and global levels through the Global Expert Network of the International Society of Addiction Medicine (ISAM-GEN). The initial formation of the network with a recruitment phase and a round of snowball sampling provided 354 experts from 78 countries across the globe. In addition, 43 national/regional addiction societies/associations are also included in the database. The surveys will be developed by global experts in addiction medicine on treatment services, service coverage, co-occurring disorders, treatment standards and barriers, emerging addictions and/or dynamic changes in treatment needs worldwide. Survey participants in categories of (1) addiction societies/associations, (2) addiction treatment programs, (3) addiction experts/clinicians and (4) related stakeholders will respond to these global longitudinal surveys. The results will be analyzed and cross-examined with available data and peer-reviewed for publication.Peer reviewe