Mental health literacy on postpartum depression among university staff in Nigeria.

Introduction: Postpartum depression (PPD) is an important public health problem which often goes unrecognized and untreated, especially in low-income settings. Poor mental health literacy of community members has been shown to create barriers to help-seeking for PPD.

Objective: The study assessed the mental health literacy of postpartum depression (PPD) among staff members in a Nigerian university.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey that employed a case vignette format. A questionnaire, consisting of a socio-demographic form and a case vignette, was distributed to a convenient sample of 400 staff members in the faculties of pharmaceutical sciences, veterinary medicine, and agricultural sciences. Data were analysed using the IBM SPSS Statistics (version - 20). Descriptive analysis (frequencies, percentages, mean, and standard deviations) were used to summarize the findings. The relationship between socio-demographic characteristics and knowledge score of PPD was assessed using chi-square analysis. Statistical significance was set at p-value ˂0.05.

Results: The majority of the respondents were females 195 (54.0%) and were between 18 and 30 years of age (35.5%). Only 16.3% of respondents correctly identified PPD and nearly half (44.9%) of the respondents opined that the condition is 'very serious. Poor knowledge of PPD was statistically significant associated with age [X² (4) = 18.252, p = 0.001], marital status [X² (3) = 16.888, p = 0.001], and educational qualification [X² (3) = 59.729, p = < 0.001], while medical help- seeking of PPD was statistically significant associated with age [X² (4) = 13.982, p = < 0.007], and educational qualification [X² (3) = 10.716, p = < 0.013].

Conclusion: The overall knowledge of postpartum depression among the staff members of the university was relatively poor and more female staff members than male staff members could identify postpartum depression. The study findings highlight the need to create awareness and improve knowledge of PPD through campaign-specific mental health programmes, educational programmes, integration of mental health programmes for university staff development to aid in early identification, intervention, media, and other targeted strategies such as creating a culture that encourages open discussions about mental health and provides accessible support services and, developing and implementing policies that address mental health in the university and the country at large.