Mental Health Literacy about Schizophrenia among Secondary School Students in Lagos, Nigeria
Journal Title: International Neuropsychiatric Disease Journal - Year 2015, Vol 4, Issue 3
Abstract
Aim: There is a huge treatment gap for schizophrenia in low and middle income countries. Mental health literacy is a pre-requisite for prompt and appropriate help-seeking for schizophrenia. The current study assessed mental health literacy about schizophrenia in a sample of secondary school students in Lagos, Nigeria. Study Design and Method: A cross-sectional study design was used. Secondary school students (n=156) attending a public co-educational secondary school in Lagos, south-West Nigeria completed a vignette-based questionnaire which assessed literacy about schizophrenia. Results: None of the respondents accurately identified schizophrenia in the case vignette. However, 25.6% identified the vignette as a mental disorder, while 3.9%, 2.6% and 0.6% labelled it as emotional problem, depression and mania respectively. Stigmatising labels such as ‘insane’ /’mad’/’brain touch’ were used by 14.1% of the respondents. About a fifth (21.2%) perceived the vignette as a reaction to stress or negative emotional state. Other responses included drug addiction (3.2%), evil spirit possession (5.8%), cultism (3.9%), HIV-AIDS (3.9%) and guilt (5.1%). Less than a quarter (23.7%) of the respondents recommended psychiatrists/mental health services as the appropriate source of help-seeking. Conclusion: The huge knowledge deficits about schizophrenia in this limited sample suggest a significantly unmet need for mental health literacy interventions among adolescents in Nigeria. This may negatively impact on appropriate help-seeking and outcomes of individuals with schizophrenia. Further larger scale studies are needed to confirm and extend our findings.
Authors and Affiliations
Increase Ibukun Adeosun, Abosede Adegbohun, Oyetayo Jeje, Fikunayo Manuwa
Keywords
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- EP ID EP241558
- DOI 10.9734/INDJ/2015/19296
- Views 110
- Downloads 0
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