The Self-rating Anxiety Scale recently introduced by Zung was administered to 206 normal male and female subjects and 142 psychiatric outpatients of both sexes. Coefficient alpha and average item-total correlations were high for the two groups. The mean scores for these two groups were significantly different. These results suggest that the instrument has sufficient reliability and construct validity to justify further use in Nigeria.
SUMMARYA culturally relevant form of the Mini-Mental State Examination was administered to 502 persons aged 60 years and over living in three locations representing rural and urban settings in southwestern Nigeria. Multivariate statistical methods show that variables like sex, age, education and self-assessed health affect the scores on MMSE. The coefficient alpha for the instrument was low for those with less than complete primary education, but for those with full primary education or more, it gave a value similar to those obtained in some studies in western countries.
For 20 years, since Prince originally introduced it, the term "brain fag syndrome" has been used to describe a variety of symptoms frequently reported by students in Africa. In this paper the author questions the validity of the use of the term on the basis of clinical evidence afforded by his work and reports in the literature. It is concluded that brain fag syndrome is a misnomer and that more specific diagnostic terms such as anxiety neurosis and depressive neurosis should be used in its place.
Attitude to aging and the aged was surveyed in three groups of Nigerians, 1) caregivers living at home with the elderly, 2) various categories of hospital workers, and 3) the general public. Based on scores of an eleven-item questionnaire the best attitude was in caregivers, and the poorest in hospital workers. Years of education had an overall negative effect on attitudinal measurement. An inference from this study is that the elderly are still valued, but caregivers could be under some stress and would appreciate assistance. It is important for developing countries like Nigeria to begin to think seriously of what types of public assistance the elderly and their families would need.
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