Suicidal ideation and attempts among Nigerian undergraduates: Exploring the relationships with depression, hopelessness, perceived burdensomeness, and thwarted belongingness

Objective

The study investigated the prevalence of suicidal behavior and its association with depression, hopelessness, perceived burdensomeness, and thwarted belongingness in a sample of undergraduates in Nigeria.

Introduction

Suicide is a leading cause of death among young adults globally. However, information about suicidal ideation, attempts, and relationships with psychiatric factors, perceived burdensomeness, and thwarted belongingness is sparse in Nigeria. The study investigated the prevalence of suicidal ideation and attempts and associated factors in a sample of undergraduates in Nigeria.

Methods

We collected data from a cross-sectional survey of 625 undergraduate students primarily recruited from universities, colleges of education, and polytechnics in Adamawa Central Senatorial Zone, Adamawa State, northeast Nigeria. The Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised, the 15-item Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire, the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire, and the 20-item version of the Beck Hopelessness Scale were administered to the participants. We used descriptive statistics and binary and multivariate logistic regressions for data analysis.

Results

A total of 616 students with a mean age of 21.41 ± 4.72 years completed the study. The prevalence of suicidal behavior was 34.9% (215/616). Having a female sex (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 8.37, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.06, 34.03), depression (AOR = 45.15, 95% CI: 0.95, 5.11), hopelessness (AOR = 20.10, 95% CI: 5.56, 72.41), and perceived burdensomeness (AOR = 89.15, 95% CI: 29.63, 268.30) were associated with suicidal ideation. In addition, being a female (AOR = 1.69, 95% CI = 1.02, 2.83), being a 200-level student (AOR = 3.41, 95% CI = 1.46, 7.96), and being a 300-level student (AOR = 0.28, 95% CI = 0.11, 0.74) were associated with suicidal attempt.

Conclusion

The study's findings show that suicidal behaviors (ideations and attempts) are prevalent among undergraduate students in northeast Nigeria. The findings underline the need for the development of mental health services and early identification and intervention for at-risk young people in Nigeria.

Psychological distress, burnout, and coping strategies among Nigerian primary school teachers: a school-based cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

The teaching profession is highly stressed job. A high level of stress is associated with poor health outcomes, such as burnout and psychological distress. Therefore, teachers' use of coping styles becomes imperative. However, relatively little is known about primary school teachers' psychological distress, burnout, coping strategies, and associated factors in Nigeria. The study investigated psychological distress, burnout, coping strategies among primary schools, and associated factors in Nigeria.

METHODS

A total of 264 teachers aged 20-59 years participated in the study between May 2019 to October 2019. Questionnaires on psychological distress, burnout, coping strategies, and demographic profile form were used for data collection. Factors associated with psychological distress, burnout, and coping strategies were identified using t-test, univariate ANOVA, Pearson's correlation, Chi-square test, and hierarchical linear regression analysis.

RESULTS

Of 264 participants enrolled for the study, 253 responded, giving a response rate of 95.8%. The prevalence of psychological distress and burnout was 69.9% (176/253) and 36.0% (91/253), respectively. Sex (β = 0.158), a high level of emotional exhaustion (β = 0.193) and reduced personal accomplishment (β = 0.358), adoption of problem-focused strategies (β = 0.904), and dysfunctional strategies (β = 0.340) were positively associated with psychological distress. Age (β = - 0.338), academic qualification (β = - 0.210), and income level (β = - 0.146) were inversely associated with psychological distress, which together explained 51.5% of the total variance. Psychological distress (β = 0.275 vs. β = 0.404) was significantly associated with emotional exhaustion (EE) and reduced personal accomplishment (PA) and explained 11.4 and 24.2% of the variance in EE and reduced PA, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

The high prevalence of psychological distress and burnout among teachers should receive urgent attention. Teachers' training curricula should include developing interpersonal skills, stress management abilities, and resilience to equip them for the job. Also, teacher training curricula should integrate mental health promotion interventions.

Adverse childhood experiences and psychological distress among higher education students in Southeast Nigeria: an institutional-based cross-sectional study

Background

Exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) constitutes public health problems linked to adverse mental outcomes such as psychological distress during adulthood. This study examines the prevalence of ACEs and psychological distress and explores the association between ACEs and psychological distress and demographic factors among young adults.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study of 330 students from May 2018 to July 2018. The participants completed the Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ), Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), and the sociodemographic profile scale. We used descriptive statistics to describe the prevalence of ACEs and psychological distress in our sample. After adjusting for the demographic covariates, ACEs’ association with psychological distress was determined using binary and multivariate logistic regressions.

Results

A total of 203 students with a mean age of 20.76 ± 2.73 years completed the study. The total mean ACE score was 4.58 ± 1.59, and the total mean psychological distress score was 20.76 ± 6.31. Most of the participants (86.7%) experienced ACEs, 14.8% reported experiencing one ACE, 30.5% reported experiencing 2–3 ACEs, and 41.3% reported experiencing 4+ ACEs. Further, about 85% of the youth have experienced at least one form of sexual abuse during childhood, and females reported a higher number of ACEs than males. Sexual abuse (OR = 2.36; 95% CI: 2.36, 7.65), physical neglect (OR = 2.87; 95% CI: 1.57, 5.31), overall ACE exposure (OR = 6.66; 95% CI: 2.41, 18.42), having 1 ACE (OR = 4.40; 95% CI: 1.32, 14.70), having 2–3 ACEs (OR = 4.13; 95% CI: 1.39, 12.29), and having 4+ (OR = 11.67; 95% CI: 3.95, 34.45) were significantly associated with psychological distress.

Conclusions

ACEs are prevalent among young adults and are associated with psychological distress in adulthood. Furthermore, parental factors are associated with ACEs and psychological distress. Thus, implementation of school, community-and facility-based routine mental health screening programs is essential for prompt identification, prevention, and treatment of youth with childhood adversities and poor mental health outcomes.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13690-021-00587-3.

Workplace gender-based violence and associated factors among university women in Enugu, South-East Nigeria: an institutional-based cross-sectional study

Background

Exposure to workplace gender-based violence (GBV) can affect women's mental and physical health and work productivity in higher educational settings. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the prevalence of GBV (workplace incivility, bullying, sexual harassment), and associated factors among Nigerian university women.

Methods

The study was an institutional-based cross-sectional survey. The multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 339 female staff from public and private universities in Enugu, south-east Nigeria. Data was collected using the Workplace Incivility Scale (WIS), Modified Workplace Incivility Scale (MWIS), Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised (NAQ-R), and Sexual Experiences Questionnaire (SEQ). Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, Pearson’s Chi-square test, univariate ANOVA, bivariate, and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted at 0.05 level of significance.

Results

The prevalence of workplace incivility, bullying, and sexual harassment (SH) was 63.8%, 53.5%, and 40.5%. The 12-month experience of the supervisor, coworker, and instigated incivilities was 67.4%, 58.8%, and 52.8%, respectively. Also, 47.5% of the participants initiated personal bullying, 62.5% experienced work-related bullying, and 42.2% experienced physical bullying. The 12-month experience of gender harassment, unwanted sexual attention, and sexual coercion were 36.5%, 25.6%, and 26.6%, respectively. Being aged 35–49 years (AOR 0.15; 95% CI (0.06, 0.40), and ≥ 50 years (AOR 0.04; 95% CI (0.01, 0.14) were associated with workplace incivility among female staff. Having a temporary appointment (AOR 7.79, 95% CI (2.26, 26.91) and casual/contract employment status (AOR 29.93, 95% CI (4.57, 192.2) were reported to be associated with workplace bullying. Having a doctoral degree (AOR 3.57, 95% CI (1.24, 10.34), temporary appointment (AOR 91.26, 95% CI (14.27, 583.4) and casual/contract employment status (AOR 73.81, 95% CI (7.26, 750.78) were associated with workplace SH.

Conclusions

The prevalence of GBV was high. There is an urgent need for workplace interventions to eliminate different forms of GBV and address associated factors to reduce the adverse mental, physical, and social health outcomes among university women.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12905-021-01273-w.

Nonadherence to tuberculosis treatment and associated factors among patients using directly observed treatment short-course in north-west Nigeria: A cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION

Tuberculosis is a public health problem in Nigeria. One of the most effective ways of controlling tuberculosis is the directly observed treatment short-course. However, some factors influence tuberculosis patients' treatment nonadherence via directly observed treatment short-course. The study objective was to assess medication nonadherence and associated factors among tuberculosis patients in north-west Nigeria.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study enrolled tuberculosis patients using directly observed treatment short-course in public health facilities in Kano and Kaduna States from January 2015 to June 2016. The sample selection was conducted via a multistage sampling procedure. Data were collected using tuberculosis patients' demographic and clinical characteristics forms, well-validated structured instruments, and medical records. SPSS version 20 was used for data analysis. Logistic and multivariable logistic regression analyses to determine factors of medication nonadherence (P < 0.05).

RESULTS

Complete responses from 390 patients out of the 460 patients recruited for the study were used for data analyses. The mean age was 51.5 (standard deviation = ±13.8) years. The mean tuberculosis medication adherence questionnaire score was 4.35 ± 1.12. The prevalence of nonadherence to tuberculosis medication was 30.5%. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that having a monthly income between #100,000 and #199, 000 (adjusted odds ratio = 0.01; 95% confidence interval: 0.00-0.13), being widowed (adjusted odds ratio = 26.74, 95% confidence interval: 2.92-232.9), being married (adjusted odds ratio = 120.49, 95% confidence interval: 5.38-271.1), having a distance <5 km to directly observed treatment short-course center from home (adjusted odds ratio = 0.06, 95% confidence interval: 0.00-0.01), having a tuberculosis/HIV co-infection (adjusted odds ratio = 0.01, 95% confidence interval: 0.12-0.35), use of antiretroviral treatment and cotrimoxazole prophylaxis therapy medications (adjusted odds ratio = 24.9, 95% confidence interval: 19.6-304.3) were associated with tuberculosis medication nonadherence.

CONCLUSION

Tuberculosis medication nonadherence was high among the patients. Thus, patient-specific adherence education, attenuation of potential factors for tuberculosis medication nonadherence, and continual resource support for tuberculosis patients are needed to improve treatment outcomes.