The prevalence of psychiatric disorders in patients attending dermatology outpatient clinics at Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital (BDTH), Kaduna State University, Nigeria

Although psychiatric disorders are frequent among dermatological patients, a few studies have formally assessed the performance of any psychiatric screening questionnaire in dermatological practice. This study tested the ability of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) to identify psychiatric morbidity in dermatological patients. A sample of 125 outpatients attending dermatology clinics at Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital (BDTH) Kaduna Nigeria, completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, a GHQ-12 and were administered the Structured Clinical Interview for WHO International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) by a trained mental health professional. Patients that scored “two” and above on GHQ-12 were selected for the stage two interview. Out of all dermatological patients who visited the health facility, 125 were recruited and consented to participate in the study giving a response rate of 100%, which makes up to 104% of the initial proposed sample size (n=120). Of the 125 participants, 48 (38.4%) were men and 76(60.8%) were women. The mean age was 27 years (SD, ±15 years; range, 18-55 years). The psychiatric morbidity was significant in our dermatological patients, thus indicating the use of GHQ 12 in assisting to formulate psychiatric interventions and possible reduction in morbidity and cost of treatment

Stigma from psychoactive substance use: Sociodemographic correlation of the perceiver

Psychoactive substance use and abuse have been identified as the most stigmatized health condition. This often arises from ‘public’, ‘self’ and ‘courtesy’ stigmas and biases. In Nigeria, studies on stigma of psychoactive substance use and abuse are few and mainly from the perception of medical service providers. No previous Nigerian study according to search by the authors had published on stigma of psychoactive substance use from the perspectives of non-medical persons. This research is therefore aimed to study the prevalence and associated sociodemographic variables of public stigma meted out to users of psychoactive substances. The study instruments were filled by 480 members of staff of Kaduna refinery after obtaining their informed consents. Information on age, gender, educational characteristics and scores on Perceived Stigma of Addiction Scale (PSAS) were collected and analysed with IBM-SPSS version 21. Participants with no formal education are noted to have high public stigma against substance abusers. Belonging to middle age group and male gender are the two demographics that have non-significant low stigma mean scores. It is hoped that this study do provide a platform for interventional guide in reducing and preventing public stigma towards people with psychoactive substance use disorder. Keywords: Stigma, Substance use, Perceivers’ variables

The impact of spirituality and resilience on mental distress among inmates in a northern state, Nigeria

The burden of mental illness of inmates in low and middle income countries (LMICs) prisons was higher than in the developed ones. Positive interventions common in reversing the increasing prevalence of inmates’ mental distress in developed countries are rare in Nigeria, a LMICs. This study contributed to initiate mental health promotion in Nigerian prisons through studying mediating effect of positive interventions, specifically spirituality and resilience on inmates’ mental wellbeing. Mental distress of 63 male inmates of Bida prison, North-centre Nigeria was assessed with GHQ-12. The impact of resilience and spirituality on mental distress was measured by Resilience Scale and brief Spirituality Involvement and Beliefs Scale respectively. The mean age of participants was 27.27years (SD = 1.43years) and 70% of them had mental distress. Variables with statistically significant experience of mental distress were being single and having high mean resilience score. The study demonstrated the impact of marital status, resilience and spirituality on the mental wellness of the participants. This will aid mental health promotion of inmates in Nigeria prisons

Profile of cognitive impairment and health status of the elderly in a sub-Saharan African community: relevance to public policy and health service design

Background: There is scanty report on the cognitive impairment and health status of the elderly in the sub-saharan African community.Objective: This study is to investigate the pattern of cognitive impairment and health morbidities among the elderly in a sub-Saharan African community.Methods: A household survey was conducted among 350 elders. They were interviewed with a questionnaire to ascertain their socio-demographic and health status information. Subsequently, the modified Mini-Mental State Examination [MMSE] was administered to elicit cognitive impairment based on cut-off score ≥13.Results: The mean MMSE score among participants was 20.7(±5.3) and about one-tenth of them 38(10.9%) had cognitive impairment. Of the study sample, 44% reported physical health morbidities; hypertension (23.2%), diabetes mellitus (10%) and visual impairment (5.4%) were the most frequently occurring morbidities. Cognitive impairment was associated with increasing age and most prevalent among the middle olds [70-79 years] (p<0.001), while formal education seems protective (p=0.022). Likewise, those with formal education were more likely to report medical illnesses (p=0.004). Following logistic regression to control for effects of confounders, absence of formal education (Odd Ratio [OR] =0.465; 95% Confidence Interval [95%CI] =0.207-1.046) and increasing age ([OR] =6.617; 95%CI= 3.129- 13.993) were independent predictors of impairment in cognitive function.Conclusion: A high burden of cognitive impairment along with health morbidities was prevalent among the elderly; while increasing age and formal education were the identifiable determinants. Evolvement of public policies, health resource planning and service design to address geriatric health issues using age-related prioritization model are advocated. Similarly, the promotion of population literacy is indicated as it seems to have positive, long-lasting socioeconomic as well as health effects into old age. Further research is also justified.Keywords: Africa; Cognitive impairment; Health service; Morbidity; Public polic