Health workers' attitude towards children and adolescents with mental illness in a teaching hospital in north-central Nigeria

Objective: Public stigma against mental illness is well studied. However, there is a dearth of research into health workers' attitude towards children and adolescents with mental illness, especially in low- and middle income countries such Nigeria.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 395 health workers in a Teaching Hospital in North-Central Nigeria. Participants were selected by random sampling from clinical and non-clinical departments. Participants completed questionnaires to assess stigma, knowledge, personal contact, previous training, and exposure to religious teaching on child and adolescent mental illness (CAMI).Results: The response rate was 90%. Many health workers (42%) indicated that affected children should not play with other children, 38% would feel ashamed if a child in their family had mental illness, 42% would be concerned if their child sat with an affected child, and 27% would be afraid to speak to a child or adolescent with mental illness. Independent predictors of negative attitudes were: poor knowledge, exposure to religious teaching that affected children are possessed or dangerous, and being from a non-medical professional group.Conclusion: CAMI is stigmatised by health workers in this specialist Hospital in Nigeria. Urgent intervention is required to avoid adverse impact on affected children

Parenting styles and socio-demographic dynamics associated with mental health of in-school adolescents in Ibadan, south-west Nigeria

Background: Positive parenting and enabling socio-demography, engenders good conduct in adolescence. Balanced parental demandingness and emotional responsiveness, deployed by authoritative parents, supports adolescents' mental health. Parental emotional responsiveness deters peer-pressured risky behaviours; while parental negligence, permissiveness, or demandingness encourages mental health problems. This is especially in the context of unfavourable socio-demographic setting.Aim: We aimed to evaluate parenting styles and socio-demographic factors associated with adolescents' mental health.Method: A cross-sectional multistage study was conducted with 286 in-school adolescents in Ibadan, Nigeria. Data were collected with questionnaires. The questionnaires evaluated socio-demography, mental health, and perceived parenting styles using the Strength and Difficulty Questionnaire (SDQ) and Scale of Parenting Styles (SPS) questionnaires. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS 21.Results: Some of the adolescents in this study, experienced peer problems (4.9%), conduct problems (9.4%), hyperactivity problems (0.7%), emotional problems (14.3%), and they lacked pro-social behaviours (11.1%). In comparison to adolescents who perceived fathers as authoritative, adolescents who perceived fathers as less demanding experienced emotional (p = 0.01) and peer (p = 0.02) problems. Perceived maternal negligence and authoritarian parenting was associated with more peer problems (1.5±2.3 and 1.3±2.2) in comparison to perceived maternal authoritative style (0.6±1.5). Most adolescents from lower social class experienced conduct (88.8%; p = 0.07) and emotional problems (73.2%; p = 0.20).Conclusion: Competent parenting style and socio-economic resources supports resilience to mental health problems in adolescents