Assessment of perceived family psychological support among depressed patients in two psychiatric hospitals in Kaduna State.
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Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
College of Health Sciences, University of Ilorin
Abstract
A family member experiencing mental illness or any other challenge usually finds the family as the first point of support. Family members supply the required psychological support and care for the affected family member. This study assessed the perceived family psychological support among depressed patients in Psychiatric Hospitals, Kaduna State Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive cross sectional research design. One hundred and forty-four (144) depressed patients were randomly selected from Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital and Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital (FNPH) both in Kaduna State. Statistical package social sciences (SPSS) version 22, was used to analyse the data. The results showed that 40% of the 144 participants claimed to be psychologically supported by their families. This means that less than half of the depressed patients under review, had high level of perceived psychological support from their family members. Females received more family psychological support than their male counterparts. Recovery rate, using the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS), was significantly correlated with the level of family members’ psychological support. It is therefore, recommended that more focus should be placed on enhancing more family psychological supports for depressed patients most especially in the areas of encouragement towards health education, religious and / or spiritual activities, brightening the moods of their patients, and more moral support. Also, family focused psycho education should be provided to family members of depressed patients by the professional care givers.
Description
This study pays attention to the importance of psychological support in helping patients with mental illnesses in this case, depression. Emphasis is laid on the observed improvement of these patients as they receive supportive psychological support from their families. The family remains one of the determinants of the recovery of patients who are faced with this mental condition and as such, should not be neglected in the course of management.
Keywords
Psychological Support, Family, Care, Depression, Tertiary Hospital.
Citation
4.Olorukooba, H.O., Tukur, B.M., Sheikh, T.L., Anyebe, E.E. Olorukooba, A.A., Okesina, K.B., Hayat, G. and Ibitoye, B.M. (2020). Assessment of perceived family psychological support among depressed patients in two psychiatric hospitals in Kaduna State, The Tropical of Health Sciences 27(4): 32-38. Published by College of Health Sciences, University of Ilorin. https://www.ajol.info/index.php/tjhc/article/view/200653