AbstractsBackgroundCaregivers like family members or other relatives are central and provide not only practical help and personal care but also give emotional support, and they are suffering from plenty of challengeable tasks. These, eventually, cast out family caregivers into multidimensional problems prominently for mental distress like depression, anxiety, sleep problem and somatic disorder which are followed by physiologic changes and impaired health habits that ultimately lead to illness and possibly to death. Numerous studies demonstrate that mental distress of caregivers are two times compared to general populations.Despite it was not uncommon to observe manifestations of caregivers’ mental distress, yet there was no study on this area. Therefore, this study was intended to assess the prevalence of mental distress and associated factors among the caregivers of persons with severe mental illness in the out patients unit of Amanuel Hospital, Ethiopia.MethodsInstitutional based cross sectional study was conducted from May 1 to 31, 2013 at Amanuel Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Systematic random sampling technique with “k” interval of 13 was employed to withdraw a total of 423 participants from study population. Five psychiatric nurses carried out interview by using standardized and validated Self Reported Questionnaire (SRQ 20). Descriptive statistics, binary and multivariate logistic regression analysis were conducted.ResultsThis study revealed that the overall prevalence of mental distress was found to be 221(56.7 %). The factors like missed social support, two or more times admission of patient, care giving for psychotic patient, being farmer and being female were found to be predictors for mental distress of caregivers with this [AOR 95 % CI = 9.523(5.002, 18.132)], 3.293(1.474, 3.3560), 2.007(1.109, 3.634), 2.245(1.129, 4.463) and 3.170(1.843, 5.454)] respectively.ConclusionsIn this respect the study observed that there was a higher level of mental distress experienced by caregivers of patients with severe mental illness in Amanuel Hospital, and social support are strongly associated with mental distress besides to other variables. Effectively planned interventions have to be targeted at alleviating mental distress and actions like on-going psycho-education and mutual support that could expand social support should be implemented in Amanuel hospital health service delivery system.

Introduction. Social phobia is the most prevalent and chronic type of anxiety disorder worldwide and it affects occupational, educational, and social affairs of the individual. Social phobia is also known for its association with depression and substance use disorder. Objective. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors of social phobia among high school students in Ethiopia. Methods. Cross-sectional study was conducted among 386 randomly selected students. Data were collected using pretested and self-administered questionnaire. Social phobia was assessed by using Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN). Logistic regression was used to analyze the data with 95% confidence interval and variables with p value less than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. Results. From 386 study participants, 106 (27.5%) of them were positive for social phobia. Being female (AOR = 3.1; 95% CI: 1.82–5.27), current alcohol drinking (AOR = 1.75; 95% CI: 1.03–2.98), poor social support (AOR = 2.40; 95% CI: 1.17–4.92), and living with single parent (AOR = 5.72; 95% CI: 2.98–10.99) were significantly associated with social phobia. Conclusion. The proportion of social phobia was higher compared to previous evidences. School-based youth-friendly mental health services might be helpful to tackle this problem.

Background Orphan adolescents are a special group of people who are generally deprived and prone to develop psychiatric disorder even if reared in a well-run institution. Objective To assess the prevalence and associated factors of depression among orphan adolescents living in Addis Ababa orphan centers, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Method A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016 among 453 orphan adolescents in Ethiopia. All orphan adolescents who were living in the selected orphan centers were included in the study. The data was collected by interviewing the orphan adolescents at the orphan center by using a structured questionnaire. Kocher adolescent depression scale and MSPSS scale were used to measure orphan level of depression and their perceived social support. After appropriate coding, the collected data had been entered into EPI info version 7 and it was exported to SPSS version 20 for further analysis. The OR with 95% CI was used to measure association and p value < 0.05 was used as statistically significant value in multivariable binary logistic regressions. Result The overall prevalence of depression among the orphan adolescents was found to be 36.4%. The majority of the respondents, 302 (66.7%), were within the age range of 15-19 years. Perceived social support (OR 5.86; 95% CI 3.47, 9.91), community discrimination (OR 2.68; 95% CI 1.58, 4.56), length of stay (OR 1.90; 95% CI 1.08, 3.35), age of entrance (OR 2.21; 95% CI 1.32, 3.69), and presence of visitors (OR 3.62; 95% CI 2.06, 6.37) were the main variables associated with depression. Conclusion The prevalence of depression among orphan adolescents was found to be high. Low level of social support, higher length of stay, community discrimination, the presence of visitors, and younger age of entrance were statistically significant variables to develop depression.

BackgroundAggressive behavior is a challenging behavior among bipolar patients that causes poor social interaction and hospitalization. But, there is no information regards of the magnitude and contributing factors for aggressive behaviour among bipolar patients in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study was designed to assess the prevalence and associated factors of aggressive behaviour among patients with bipolar disorder.MethodAn institutional based cross sectional study was conducted at Amanual Mental Specialized Hospital from May 1 to June 1, 2015 among 411 participants who were selected by systematic random sampling technique. Data was collected by interview technique by using Modified Overt Aggression Scale, entered and analyzed by using Epi Data 3.1 and Statistical Package for Social Science version 20, respectively. Adjusted Odd Ratio (AOR) with 95% Confidence Interval (CI) were used to show the odd and P-value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant.ResultsA total of 411 bipolar patients were included in the study and the prevalence of aggressive behaviour was 29.4%. Significant associated factors for aggression were, having two or more episode [AOR = 2.35 95% CI (1.18, 4.69)], previous history of aggression, [AOR = 3.72, 95% CI (1.54, 8.98)], depressive symptoms [AOR = 3.63, 95% CI (1.89, 6.96)], psychotic symptoms [AOR = 5.41,95% CI (2.88, 10.1)], manic symptoms [AOR = 3.85,95% CI (2.06, 7.19)], poor medication adherence [AOR = 3.73 95% CI (1.71, 8.13)], poor social support [AOR = 2.99 95% CI (1.30, 6.91)] and current use of substance[AOR = 2.17 95% CI (1.16, 4.06)].ConclusionPrevalence of aggression is high among bipolar patients and associated with many factors. So it needs public health attention to decrease aggression among bipolar patients.

Introduction: Mental disorders are among the major causes of impairment which results in serious economical, social and other consequences. Many people with this disorder get religious help before or after getting modern treatment. Despite this there is lack of information which indicates the magnitude of mental illness among holy water users and associated factors.