Comparative psychiatric morbidity among three groups of health professionals in a Nigerian tertiary health institution.

Background Because health professionals have different job schedules and commitments, they may be differentially susceptible to developing psychological health problems under similar work environment. Aims The present study compared the levels of morbidity in 3 groups of health professionals (Consultants, Residents, and Nurses) identified as having probable psychiatric morbidity (i.e., score of 4 and above on 30-item GHQ), to ascertain the most susceptible to psychiatric morbidity among these 3 groups of health professionals, and the possible risk factors for such susceptibility. Method This was a cross-sectional survey involving 563 health professionals (Consultants, Residents, and Nurses) in the employ of University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH). Subjects were asked to respond to 2 questionnaires (sociodemographic/ work-related, and the 30-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30)). Data of respondents with probable psychiatric morbidity (i.e., score of 4 or more on the GHQ) were analysed using SPSS for Windows version 11, to generate frequency distributions and cross tabulation. Chi square figures, odd ratios, and relative risk were calculated; The level of statistical significance was set at 5%. Results The overall response rate was 71.8% (404/563): by groups it was 69.2% (54/78) for consultants, 70% (70/100) for residents, and 72.7% (280/385) for nurses. The mean scores on the 30-item GHQ were 1.76 (SD=2.8), 2.76 (SD=3.8), and 1.58 (SD=2.1) for consultants, residents, and the nurses respectively. The residents significantly scored higher than the consultants or nurses on the 30-item GHQ (F =5.99, p=0.003). Ten (18.5%), 18 (25.7%), and 50 (17.9%) with mean scores of 6.7 (SD=1.6), 7.7 (SD=4.7), and 5.2 (SD=2.1) of consultants, residents, and nurses respectively, scored 4 or more on the 30-item GHQ, and were considered as having probable psychiatric morbidity (F=5.7, p=0.005). Apart from other risk factors such as relationships with patients' relatives, job experience, and unsatisfactory remunerations, the negative effect of work on the residents' family made them about 18 times more susceptible to developing psychiatric morbidity than consultants or nurses while female gender made the nurses about 16 times more susceptible than any of the other 2 professionals. Conclusion The author therefore advocates establishment of a comprehensive stress management program in the health institutions, mentoring program to provide professional and emotional support to residents and other hospital staff, and collaboration with the Behavioural Sciences (Psychiatric) department, as well as adequate staffing/equipping of this department. Nigerian Journal of Psychiatry Vol. 5 (1) 2007: pp. 31-37