Publications by authors named "Gishoma D"

Introduction: The World Health Organization (WHO) has emphasized the importance of ensuring respectful and dignified childbirth experiences. However, many countries, including Rwanda, have documented negative experiences during childbirth. Identifying best practices can help uncover sustainable solutions for resource-limited settings rather than focusing solely on the challenges and negative aspects.

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  • The study focuses on the family planning knowledge and services for women with mental illnesses and epilepsy, who are at higher risk for sexual violence and unwanted pregnancies.
  • Conducted between October 2022 and February 2023, researchers surveyed 289 women at Ndera Neuropsychiatric Hospital using structured questionnaires to gather data on their family planning knowledge and usage.
  • Results showed that while 96.9% were aware of family planning methods, only 51.9% were actively using them, with injectables and oral contraceptives being the most common methods used; factors influencing usage included marital status and educational level.
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  • Adolescent mothers often face trauma and violence during pregnancy, necessitating specialized care from healthcare professionals, particularly nurses and midwives in Rwanda's primary healthcare settings.
  • A qualitative study explored the experiences of 12 nurses and midwives, revealing themes such as the importance of relational practice, challenges in providing care, factors leading to workarounds, and the impact of vicarious trauma on healthcare providers.
  • The findings suggest that healthcare practitioners need to be adaptable and attentive in their care approach, while also highlighting the gaps in knowledge and training related to gender-based violence that hinder effective support for adolescent mothers.
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The concept of successful living in the context of adolescents with HIV lacks clarity and is unexplored. Without a common understanding of successful living among adolescents with HIV (AWH) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), health care interventions focusing on this population may continue to fall short, resulting in avoidable morbidity and mortality. Therefore, this analysis used Rodgers Evolutionary Concept Analysis method to identify attributes, antecedents, consequences, and related concepts of successful living among AWH in SSA.

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Introduction: In Rwanda, maternal community health workers play a critical role to improving maternal, newborn and child health, but little is known about their specific experiences with adolescent mothers, who face unique challenges, including trauma, ongoing violence, stigma, ostracism, mental health issues, barriers within the healthcare system, and lack of access to the social determinants of health. This study explored the experiences of maternal community health workers when caring for adolescent mothers in Rwanda to inform the delivery of trauma- and violence-informed care in community maternal services.

Methods: Interpretive Description methodology was used to understand the experiences of 12 community health workers purposively recruited for interviews due to their management roles.

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  • Psychoeducation is important for treating bipolar disorder, especially alongside medication, but its effectiveness in low-resource areas like Rwanda is not well-studied.
  • A trial was conducted with 154 participants, randomly assigned to receive structured group psychoeducation or to be on a waiting list, showing that the psychoeducation significantly reduced hospitalizations over 12 months.
  • Despite the positive outcomes, such as halving hospitalization risks, no improvement in medication adherence was noted, highlighting the need for further research in less supported environments.
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Background: Bipolar disorder is challenging to diagnose. In Rwanda, a sub-Saharan country with a limited number of psychiatrists, the number of people with an undetected diagnosis of bipolar disorder could be high. Still, no screening tool for the disorder is available in the country.

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In Rwanda, women have higher incidence of HIV and intimate partner violence (IPV). This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of IPV among women living with HIV (WWH) in Rwanda and measure the difference in psychological outcomes, demographic data, and HIV-related outcomes using a cross-sectional, descriptive, observational design. A convenience sample of 162 Rwandan WWH were purposefully recruited to participate.

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Studying how intergroup prosociality evolves in war-torn societies is critical for gaining a better understanding of conflict perpetuation. Rwanda provides a unique example of how two groups must reconcile and manage their intergroup biases following a genocidal process. In this study, we employed a novel intended behavior task to measure intergroup prosociality among former genocide perpetrators, genocide survivors, and their children in Rwanda.

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  • Most data on bipolar disorder comes from wealthy areas, with little known about mental health care access for those in low-resource settings like Rwanda.
  • A study showed that 93% of outpatients in Rwanda received medication, mostly first-generation antipsychotics, but only 3% were on lithium, and many lacked psychosocial support, risking awareness of their diagnosis.
  • The findings highlight a significant gap in mental health services, suggesting the need for better treatments, psychoeducation, and a stronger focus on patients’ involvement in their care.
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  • Postnatal depression is a serious health issue, especially in low-income countries like Rwanda, where it can be affected by social support levels.
  • Over a quarter of women in a study reported high levels of depressive symptoms after giving birth, with lower perceived health status and poor partner support being significant contributing factors.
  • Research involved 396 pregnant women from various health centers in Rwanda, with 311 participants' data analyzed to understand the link between social support and postnatal depression.
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  • Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo has caused many refugees to flee to Uganda and Rwanda, leading to mental health issues like depression due to stressors they face.
  • A clinical trial is testing an adapted form of Community-based Sociotherapy (aCBS) to see if it can reduce depressive symptoms among these refugees, comparing it to standard care.
  • The trial involves 64 groups assigned to either aCBS or usual care, measuring mental health outcomes over 18 and 32 weeks, while also assessing cost-effectiveness and implementation processes.
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The aim of the present study was to offer a first investigation of the neuro-cognitive processes and the temporal dynamics at the neural level, together with cultural, social and psychological dimensions, that may support resistance to orders to harm another person. Using a novel experimental approach to study experimentally disobedience, we recruited individuals from the first generation born after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Seventy-two were recruited and tested in Rwanda and 72 were recruited and tested in Belgium.

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Background: The efficacy of psychoeducation as an add-on treatment to pharmacotherapy is well documented in treating symptoms and in relapse prevention for persons with bipolar disorder in western countries. Yet, no studies on psychosocial interventions for persons with bipolar disorder have been conducted in a low-income country in Africa.

Aim: To develop a bipolar group psychoeducation program contextualized to the Rwandese setting, and determine its effect on symptom severity, medical adherence, and internalized stigma.

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Studying what factors influence the ability to resonate with the pain of others in the aftermath of a genocide and how this extends to the following generation is critical to better understand the perpetuation of conflicts. In the present study conducted in Rwanda, we recruited former genocide perpetrators and survivors, and their respective children and investigated how their neural response to the pain of others is modulated when they visualized pictures of former perpetrators or survivors, or their offspring. We further evaluated how the impact of the genocide and psychological factors associated with trauma influenced the results.

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Background: Stigma is an underlying cause of health inequities, and a major barrier to HIV prevention, care, and treatment. Experiences of HIV stigma have been shown to reduce engagement in care across the HIV care continuum, from testing and diagnosis to long-term retention in care and anti-retroviral therapy adherence. In Rwanda, approximately 130,000 women are living with HIV, representing a prevalence rate (3.

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Background: The treatment gap for bipolar disorder is aggravated by economic inequality. Around half of the world's population live in a low-or lower-middle-income country, where research on treatment is scarce. Hence, this review aims to determine the number and types of intervention studies conducted on adults with bipolar disorder in low-income and lower-middle-income countries and analyze the effect of these interventions on symptom severity, medical adherence, and quality of life.

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Background: Prevalence of perinatal depression is high in Rwanda and has been found to be associated with the quality of relationship with partner. This study extends this work to examine the relationship between antenatal depressive symptoms and social support across several relationships among women attending antenatal care services.

Methods: Structured survey interviews were conducted with 396 women attending antenatal care services in 4 health centres in the Southern Province of Rwanda.

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  • The study emphasizes the importance of measuring quality of life (QoL) from the clients' perspective in mental health settings, highlighting a gap in standardized self-reported assessment tools.
  • The interRAI SQoL-MHA survey was designed to address these gaps by collecting self-reported QoL data and proving valid across various countries and mental health services.
  • Data from 2,474 participants revealed significant associations between different QoL dimensions and client-reported factors, suggesting insights that could inform policymakers in enhancing mental health care and client satisfaction.
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  • Le cancer du col utérin est le troisième cancer le plus fréquent chez les femmes, mais classé deuxième en Afrique de l'Est, avec un faible taux de dépistage estimé entre 10 et 70 % en Afrique.
  • Une étude au Rwanda a évalué les connaissances des femmes sur le dépistage, l'utilisation des services, et les obstacles à l'accès à ces services.
  • Les résultats ont révélé que 50% des 329 femmes sondées avaient une bonne connaissance du dépistage, mais seulement 28,3% avaient effectivement utilisé ces services, avec un lien significatif entre la connaissance et l'utilisation du dépistage.
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Background: Cervical cancer is the third most common cancer attacking women globally, and the second in Eastern Africa where Rwanda is located. Regular screening is an effective prevention approach for cervical cancer. Despite that, the screening rate for cervical cancer in Africa is estimated between 10% and 70%, with a number of barriers.

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Background: Depression in children presents a significant health burden to society and often co-exists with chronic illnesses, such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Research has demonstrated that 10-37% of children and adolescents living with HIV also suffer from depression. Low-and-middle income countries (LMICs) shoulder a disproportionate burden of HIV among other health challenges, but reliable estimates of co-morbid depression are lacking in these settings.

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Introduction: Quality emergency nursing care is an important variable in reducing death and disability due to road traffic accidents (RTA), yet little is known about emergency nursing care within the Rwandan context. This study aims to describe the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of nurses of the emergency care of RTA patients.

Method: We employed a cross sectional design to survey the full cohort of nurses working in Accident and Emergency (A&E) units in three selected Rwandan hospitals (N = 51).

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Background: The 1994 genocide against Tutsi resulted in a massive death toll that reached one million people. Despite the tremendous efforts made to mitigate the adverse effects of the genocide, a substantial burden of mental health disorders still exists including the notably high prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among genocide survivors. However, a synthesized model of PTSD vulnerability in this population is currently lacking.

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