Nigerian secondary school children's knowledge of and attitudes to mental health and illness.

Background: Children tend to lack knowledge of, and hold negative attitudes towards mental illness. However, most of the work undertaken in Nigeria has been done with adults.

Aims: To establish the views and knowledge about mental health and illness in pupils at four secondary schools in rural and urban Southwest Nigeria.

Psychosocial functioning in offspring of parents with bipolar disorder.

Background: Offspring of parents with bipolar disorder are at increased risk for a range of psychopathology, including bipolar disorder. It is not clear if they also have impairments in their psychosocial functioning.

Methods: We compared the psychosocial functioning of three groups of children enrolled in the Pittsburgh Bipolar Offspring Study (BIOS): offspring of probands with bipolar disorder (n=388), offspring of probands with other types of psychopathology (n=132), and offspring of healthy probands (n=118).

Teachers' perspectives of mental health needs in Nigerian schools.

Objective: This study assessed teachers' perspectives on children's mental health needs and the development of school-based mental health programmes in South-West Nigeria.

Method: Focus group discussions were held with teachers from randomly selected urban and rural primary schools in Ibadan, Nigeria. Data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Stigmatization of mental illness among Nigerian schoolchildren.

Background: Despite the fact that about 10% of children experience mental health problems, they tend to hold negative views about mental illness. The objective of this study was to investigate the views of Nigerian schoolchildren towards individuals with mental illness or mental health problems.

Methods: A cross-sectional design was used.

Social phobia in Nigerian university students: prevalence, correlates and co-morbidity.

Background: Social phobia is considered to be among the most common anxiety disorders. Despite its early onset, chronic course, disability and co-morbidity there is virtually no information about this disorder in young people in sub-Saharan Africa.

Objectives: The prevalence, correlates, and co-morbidity of social phobia in a Nigerian undergraduate university population were determined.

Assessment of need for a school-based mental health programme in Nigeria: perspectives of school administrators.

The majority of children in Nigeria are unable to access mental health services. In this resource-poor setting, a school-based mental health service can be used to reach children who would otherwise not have access. An essential first step in the development of a school-based mental health programme is a needs assessment.

Training Health Professionals for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Care in Nigeria: A Qualitative Analysis.

There is no organised training and service for CAMH in Nigeria. A 3-day course in child mental health aimed at multidisciplinary health professionals was developed and evaluated to inform future training. Developing the course involved multi-professional consultation.

Stressors and psychological symptoms in students of medicine and allied health professions in Nigeria.

Background: Studies suggest that high levels of stress and psychological morbidity occur in health care profession students. This study investigates stressors and psychological morbidity in students of medicine, dentistry, physiotherapy and nursing at the University of Ibadan.

Methods: The students completed a questionnaire about their socio-demographic characteristics, perceived stressors and the 12-item General Health Questionnaire.