Psychosocial determinants of psychological distress among people with disabilities in Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the psychosocial determinants of psychological distress among people with disabilities in Ethiopia.

Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted at an institution from 01 to 30 May 2021, using a census sampling approach.

Setting and participants: A total of 269 individuals aged 18 and older with disabilities were present at the University of Gondar in Ethiopia.

Main outcome: The Kessler psychological distress scale (K10), the multidimensional scale of perceived social support, the actual help-seeking behaviour and the stigma scale for chronic illness-8 were used to assess the dependent and independent variables, respectively. Binary logistic regression analyses were performed; a p value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant at a 95% CI.

Result: In this study, the prevalence of psychological distress was 34.6% with a 95% CI (29.40 to 40.10). Factors, such as older age (adjusted ß=1.09; 95% CI 1.04 to 1.15), low perceived social support (adjusted OR (AOR)=1.83; 95% CI 1.16 to 2.89), experiencing stigma (AOR=2.50; 95% CI 1.12 to 5.61) and cognition problems (adjusted ß=0.73; 95% CI 0.62 to 0.85), were significantly associated with increased psychological distress. Of the participants with psychological distress, professional help-seeking behaviour was 7.5%.

Conclusion: Psychological distress was notably high among individuals with disabilities, while professional help-seeking remained very low. This underscores the urgent need for targeted mental health interventions to reduce stigma, strengthen social support and improve access to appropriate psychological care.