Background: Mass hysteria is described as the rapid spread of conversion disorder without organic basis among a group of people. Mass hysteria can occur in work place and commonly in schools. There are usually some factors attributable to the episode; however, the lack of a pathogen upon investigation is a fundamental characteristic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2) is an ultra-brief questionnaire widely used by researchers and clinicians to detect major depressive disorder (MDD). Despite its individual and societal impact, MDD is often undetected and untreated particularly among sub-Saharan Africans. We conducted this study to evaluate the reliability and validity of using the PHQ-2 as a screen for MDD among Ethiopian adults.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDepression is often underdiagnosed and undertreated in primary care settings, particularly in developing countries. This is, in part, due to challenges resulting from lack of skilled mental health workers, stigma associated with mental illness, and lack of cross-culturally validated screening instruments. We conducted this study to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) as a screen for diagnosing major depressive disorder among adults in Ethiopia, the second most populous country in sub-Saharan Africa.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To evaluate the validity and reliability of the structured Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) in diagnosing current major depressive disorder (MDD) among East African adults.
Methods: A sample of 926 patients attending a major referral hospital in Ethiopia participated in this diagnostic assessment study. We used a two-stage study design where participants were first interviewed using an Amharic version of the CIDI and a stratified random sample underwent a follow-up semi-structured clinical interview conducted by a psychiatrist, blinded to the screening results, using the Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN) instrument.
Clin Pract Epidemiol Ment Health
November 2012
Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of mental distress and its correlates among working Ethiopian adults.
Methods: This cross-sectional study of 2,180 individuals (1,316 men and 864 women) was conducted among working adults in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A structured questionnaire was used to collect information on socio-demographic and lifestyle characteristics of participants.