Publications by authors named "J U Ohaeri"
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates neurocognitive deficits (NCD) in first-episode schizophrenia (FES) patients from Africa, highlighting their prevalence and changes over 8 weeks of treatment, compared to healthy controls (HC).
- Among the FES group, 62.9% showed NCD after 8 weeks, significantly higher than just 1.2% in the HC group, with improvements in cognitive function noted at each follow-up.
- The results indicate that better cognitive performance in FES correlates with lower psychopathology scores, suggesting a potential link between cognitive function and overall mental health outcomes in schizophrenia.
Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the frontline healthcare providers faced significant mental health stressors. Previous pandemics have revealed the need for psychosocial support and healthy coping mechanisms to mitigate mental health risks.
Aim: The study aimed to assess psychological impact and supportive mechanisms experienced by frontline healthcare workers treating COVID-19 patients in Kaduna State.
Objectives: High levels of caregiver burden (CB) are experienced by informal caregivers of pediatric patients with cancer. There is increasing evidence highlighting the extent of CB across sub-Saharan African countries, although there remains lack of interventions that target improvements in their experience. This study aimed to determine the impact of a structured psychoeducation program on caregivers' outcomes relating to preparedness to provide care, burden of caregiving, and quality of life (QoL).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeurological soft signs in first episode psychosis among psychiatric hospital patients and its relationship with dimensions of psychopathology: A comparative study.
Niger Postgrad Med J
November 2023
Background: Neurological soft signs (NSS), as subtle, nonlocalising neurological abnormalities, are considered as the potential markers of psychosis. However, comparative studies of antipsychotic-naïve patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP) and first degree relatives (FDRs) are uncommon. We compared the prevalence and pattern of NSS in FEPs, their healthy FDRs and a healthy non-relatives' control group (HC), highlighted the relationship between NSS and psychopathology and proposed cut-off scores for prevalence studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Schizophrenia, from its early conceptualization, has been described in distinct clinical subtypes. However, these categories were found not to be stable phenotypes over time, hence the dimensional option, whereas at cross-sectional level, the dimensions of psychopathology have been replicated across studies; there is dearth of data on the longitudinal stability of the factor structure of the symptoms of schizophrenia in African populations.
Aim: This study examined the longitudinal stability of the factor structure of the 18-item Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) across intervals of 16-week naturalistic treatment follow-up.