Anxiety and Associated Factors among Prisoners in North West of Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia
BACKGROUND:
Mental
illnesses are more common among the prison population than the general public.
However, little attention is given to mental health service in low and middle
income countries in general. The problem is more so for prisoners where the
overall health care is poor. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the
prevalence of anxiety and the associated factors among prisoners of North West
Amhara, Ethiopia.
METHODS:
Institutional
based cross-sectional study was employed from February to March 2015 by taking
a sample of 700 prisoners. Simple random sampling method was employed to select
three prisons out of 10 prisons found in the North West Amhara region.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) scale was used to assess prisoners'
anxiety status. The receiver- operator characteristic (ROC) curve was used to
determine the cutoff point with high sensitivity and specificity. Structured
and pretested interviewer administered questionnaire was used for data
collection. Data were checked, coded and entered into Epi Info version 7 and
analyzed using R version 3.2.0. Bivariable and multivariable logistic
regression analyses were carried out to identify factors associated with
anxiety. Odds ratio with its 95 % confidence interval was used as a measure of
association. Akaike's Information's Criterion (AIC) was used to check model
fitness.
RESULTS:
A total
of 649 prisoners were included in the analysis making the response rate 92.5 %.
The prevalence of Anxiety was found to be 36.1 % (95 % CI: 32.7, 39.9). The
odds of Anxiety was 2.49(95 % CI: 1.38, 4.55) times higher among prisoners who
used to be unhappy in their life before imprisonment. Moreover, smokers were
2.6 (AOR = 2.6, 95 % CI: 1.08, 6.6) times more likely to have anxiety compared
with non smokers. However, the odds of the odds of anxiety was 89% lower among
Debre-Tabor prisoners (AOR = 0.11, 95 % CI: 0.06, 0.20) and 57 % lower among
Gondar prisoners (AOR = 0.43, 95 % CI: 0.28, 0.67).
CONCLUSION:
The
prevalence of anxiety is found to be very high among prisoners in North West
Ethiopia. Anxiety was associated with current smoking and having had a
dissatisfying life. Screening prisoners for common mental disorders and
integrated health care is necessary.
- 1Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Institute of public Health, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia. Fekten@yahoo.com.
- 2Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Institute of public Health, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.
- 3Department of Public Health, College of health sciences, Arsi University, Arsi, Ethiopia.
- 4Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.
- 5Department of Health Education and Behavioral Science, Institute of public Health, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.
- BMC Psychiatry. 2016 Mar 31;16(1):83.
No comments:
Post a Comment