Intra-Urban Variations in the Prevalence of Self-Reported Common Mental Disorders in a Traditional City

Abstract

Studies of intra-urban variations of self-reported Common Mental Disorders (CMD) are still emerging in most developing cities. This present study, thus sought to determine if variations exist in the prevalence of self-reported CMDs along the lines of gender and residential densities in a traditional urban city. Using the Neumman’s probability sampling method, 1200 respondents were selected and an adapted SRQ-20 was employed for the study. ANOVA and ArcGIS methods were employed to examine the variations, mapping and identification of the localities of high Self-reported CMD prevalence respectively. The result showed that overall prevalence was 32.5%. Females (35.1%) reported more cases of Self-reported CMD than males (30.1%). The analysis of variance shows a significant variation in Self-reported CMD across the residential densities (F=22.620, p=0.000). This implies that the prevalence of self-reported CMD varies across the residential densities. Post-hoc test result shows that Self-reported CMD varies across the residential densities as the mean score of high residential density area (5.1956) was higher than those of medium (3.9859) and low (3.5766) density areas. CMD is a major public health burden in and there is need for increased public sensitization on its causative factors. The high density localities should also be targeted as areas requiring immediate mental health and social service intervention.