scholarly journals Prevalence and Pattern of Mental Illness among School Age Children Seen at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital: A Six Year Study

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
A. K. Nkporbu ◽  
B. A. Alex-Hart
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Teaching Hospital ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Port Harcourt ◽  
The University

Background: A sound mental health in school age children is critical for good academic achievements and a better transition from childhood to adulthood. The increasing prevalence of mental illness in school age children, especially the adolescents, is of great public health concern globally. Aim: The aim of this study therefore was to determine the prevalence and pattern of mental health disorders among school age children seen at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH). Methodology: Consent for the study was obtained from the research ethical committee of the hospital. Medical case notes of all patients aged 5 years to 18 years seen in the clinic by Consultant Child and adolescent Psychiatrists from 2015 to 2019 were retrieved and thoroughly reviewed. Data was analyzed using the SPSS version 20 statistical package and results presented using descriptive and analytical methods. Results: Out of 7,856 patients seen in the Neuropsychiatry Clinic within the period under review, 408 (5.2%) were children aged between 5 to 18 years. Male was higher with 232 (56.9%). The most prevalent mental illnesses were anxiety disorders, 58 (14.2%), depressive illnesses 46 (11.3%), schizophrenic illness 44 (10.8%), mental and behavioural abnormality secondary to substance abuse (MABD) 43 (10.5%), bipolar affective disorders 37 (9.1%), while conversion disorders was the least with 3 (0.7%). Conclusion: Mental disorders are common among school age children seen in UPTH and often impair the emotional wellbeing of this population. A detailed and well worked out plan of management is needed to provide optimal mental health services to children and adolescents. Well-coordinated mental health services should be inculcated into the School Health Programme in Nigeria.

scholarly journals Tetanus in School Age Children Seen at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital: A Need for Booster Doses of Tetanus Vaccine

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
B. A. Alex-Hart ◽  
D. LongJohn
Keyword(s):  
Incubation Period ◽  
Teaching Hospital ◽  
Case Fatality ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Tetanus Vaccine ◽  
Short Incubation Period ◽  
Port Harcourt ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The University

Background: Tetanus still causes significant morbidity and mortality amongst children in Nigeria despite decades of immunisation with tetanus vaccine. Objectives: To determine the prevalence, case fatality rate and predictors of fatality amongst school age children treated for tetanus at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital. Materials and Methods:  This was a retrospective study of all children aged 4 to 17 years treated for tetanus at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2019. Data was obtained from the case notes and ward registers. Socio-demographic characteristics, presenting complaints, incubation period, onset interval, number of Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus (DPT) vaccine received at infancy, treatment outcome, duration and cost of hospital stay were obtained, entered into a spread sheet and analysed with SPSS version 20. Results are presented in tables and percentages. The level of significance was set at P value <0.05. Results:  During the period under review, there were 53 children aged 4 to 17 years treated for tetanus, accounting for 0.3% of the total admission. The mean age was 10.79±3.35 years. There were 33 (62.26%) males and 20 (37.74%) females. Majority 26 (49.06%) of the children were of low socioeconomic class. The commonest 28(52.8%) route of infection was broomstick injury. Majority 32(60.3%) of the children were not immunised in infancy. The mean incubation period was 7.34±4.21 days and the mean onset interval was 8.87±10.44 hours. The two most common symptoms were generalized spasms 49 (21.03%) and trismus 47 (20.17%). Short incubation period (≤4 days) and short onset interval (≤4 hours) were significantly associated with higher death rates (p=0.0002; p=0.012).  Patients with short incubation period of ≤4 days and short onset interval of≤ 4 hours are more likely to die (p=0.0002; p=0.012). Conclusion: There was a high tetanus case fatality rate amongst school age children at University of Port Harcourt. Short incubation period and onset interval were associated with higher mortality. Booster doses of TT containing vaccines should be administered to primary and secondary school children in Port Harcourt to curb the menace.

scholarly journals Barriers to accessing mental health services for women with perinatal mental illness: systematic review and meta-synthesis of qualitative studies in the UK

BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. e024803 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Sambrook Smith ◽  
Vanessa Lawrence ◽  
Euan Sadler ◽  
Abigail Easter
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Care Pathway ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Qualitative Studies ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
The Uk

ObjectiveLack of access to mental health services during the perinatal period is a significant public health concern in the UK. Barriers to accessing services may occur at multiple points in the care pathway. However, no previous reviews have investigated multilevel system barriers or how they might interact to prevent women from accessing services. This review examines women, their family members’ and healthcare providers’ perspectives of barriers to accessing mental health services for women with perinatal mental illness in the UK.DesignA systematic review and meta-synthesis of qualitative studies.Data sourcesQualitative studies, published between January 2007 and September 2018, were identified in MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE and CINAHL electronic databases, handsearching of reference lists and citation tracking of included studies. Papers eligible for inclusion were conducted in the UK, used qualitative methods and were focused on women, family or healthcare providers working with/or at risk of perinatal mental health conditions. Quality assessment was conducted using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme for qualitative studies.ResultsOf 9882 papers identified, 35 studies met the inclusion criteria. Reporting of emergent themes was informed by an existing multilevel conceptual model. Barriers to accessing mental health services for women with perinatal mental illness were identified at four levels: Individual (eg, stigma, poor awareness), organisational (eg, resource inadequacies, service fragmentation), sociocultural (eg, language/cultural barriers) and structural (eg, unclear policy) levels.ConclusionsComplex, interlinking, multilevel barriers to accessing mental health services for women with perinatal mental illness exist. To improve access to mental healthcare for women with perinatal mental illness multilevel strategies are recommended which address individual, organisational, sociocultural and structural-level barriers at different stages of the care pathway.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42017060389.

scholarly journals Prevalence and Pattern of Skin Diseases among School Age Children at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Nigeria: A Hospital Based Study

2020 ◽  
pp. 29-36
Author(s):  
D. D. Altraide ◽  
B. A. Alex-Hart
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Hospital ◽  
Skin Disease ◽  
School Health ◽  
Skin Diseases ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Dermatology Clinic ◽  
Port Harcourt ◽  
Number Of Patients ◽  
The University

Background: Skin diseases are common among school age children. In the absence of population based studies, data from hospital based studies could be a pointer to the enormity of the problem within the community. Objective: To evaluate the prevalence and pattern of skin diseases among school age children at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH). Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective review of the records of all children aged 6-18 years seen at the dermatology clinic of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2019. Socio-demographic characteristics and diagnosis were obtained from the clinic register. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Results: Three hundred and forty- seven patients aged 6 -18 years were seen over the period under review. Males were 165 (47.55%) and females were 182 (52.45%). The mean age was10.79±3.35 years. The overall prevalence of skin disease was 16.3%. The five most common diagnoses were Papular urticaria 10.35%, Scabies 10.08%, Atopic dermatitis 8.72% and Dermatophyte infections 8.17%. One hundred and two (29.4%) patients out of the 347 patients with skin diseases, had transmissible skin diseases of which scabies 37 (36.27%) was the commonest.The commonest Dermatophyte infection was Tinea corporis 15 (50.00%), followed by Tinea capitis 7 (23.33%). Conclusion: School age children made up significant number of patients seen at the dermatology clinic at UPTH and almost a third of them had transmissible skin disease. An effective School Health Programme will curb the spread of transmissible skin disease within schools in Port Harcourt.

scholarly journals Safer services: conclusions from the report of the National Confidential Inquiry

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Appleby
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Health Services ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
People With Mental Illness ◽  
The University ◽  
University Of Manchester

In May 1999, the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness published its first major report since it was reestablished at the University of Manchester (Appleby et al, 1999a). Entitled Safer Services, it presented findings from a two-year sample of suicides and an 18-month sample of homicides occurring in England and Wales, and on the basis of these put forward 31 recommendations for mental health services (Appleby, 1999b; Shaw et al, 1999). This article, modified from a chapter in Safer Services, discusses how services might deal with the risk of suicide and homicide or serious violence.

The Current Situation in Psychiatry and its Effects on the Delivery of Mental Health Services in the Next Decade

1971 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 138-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Horvath
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Behavioral Treatment ◽  
Additional Data ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Medical Model ◽  
Behavioral Disorder ◽  
Treatment Alternative

As long as mental illness is regarded as primarily a behavioral disorder, current and foreseeable manpower shortages in psychiatry make it necessary to increase the participation of nonmedical personnel in the treatment process. The controversy between those advocating behavioral treatment and those favoring the medical model cannot be resolved due to the fact that our current knowledge of the biologic roots of mental illness is inadequate. A breakthrough in research in this area could resolve the argument and solve the manpower problem by transferring psychiatric disorders into physiologic disease susceptible to medical treatment. Alternative models for the delivery of mental health services can be developed to allow for different possibilities in the outcome of research. Additional data is needed, especially on the costs and effectiveness of future therapies, before an evaluation of programs can be carried out.

scholarly journals Access to public mental health services among older adults with severe mental illness

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd P. Gilmer ◽  
Victoria D. Ojeda ◽  
Dahlia Fuentes ◽  
Viviana Criado ◽  
Piedad Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Severe Mental Illness ◽  
Public Mental Health ◽  
Public Mental Health Services

scholarly journals Concerns about the children of psychiatric in-patients – what the parents say

1997 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 495-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona Stormont ◽  
Tom Craig ◽  
Zerrin Atakan ◽  
Peter Loader ◽  
Cindy Williams
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Parental Mental Illness ◽  
Adult Mental Health

There is an increasing body of research literature investigating the effects of parental mental illness on children. This study investigates the views of psychiatric in-patients on consequences of their admission to hospital and their mental illness for their children. The results suggest that the parents do not readily acknowledge that their children have problems, and that interventional approaches require good liaison between adult mental health services and child-focused agencies.

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