Sep 2016 DOI 10.14302/issn.2474-9273.jbtm-16-1195
Joyce OmoaregbaCorresponding author
Consultant Psychiatrist at Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Uselu, PMB 1108, Benin City, Nigeria.
Background: Mental health service providers sometimes suffer burden resulting from their care of mentally ill individuals, and this burden could be modulated by the coping mechanisms they adopt. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the relationships between gender, coping strategy and compassion fatigue of mental health service providers in a mental health facility in Nigeria Method: This was a cross-sectional study which recruited 234 mental health service providers working in a mental health facility in Nigeria, and they completed questionnaires (the Coping Strategy Inventory modified by Addison, Campbell-Jenkins & Sarpong and the Compassion Fatigue subscale of the Professional Quality of Life developed by Stamms. Results: Majority of the mental health service providers surveyed were at risk of compassion fatigue (75.2%), gender did not significantly impact on compassion fatigue (t =-0.111; p>0.05), and coping strategies jointly predicted compassion fatigue (F = 11.927; p<0.05; r=0.417). However, when analyzed separately, only the subgroup of emotional focused engagement coping and emotional focused disengagement coping strategies independently predicted compassion fatigue, (β =0.246, t= 3.3.511, p<0.05) and (β =0.226, t= 3.698, p<0.05) respectively. Conclusion: Mental health service providers have high risk of compassion fatigue and the emotional based coping strategies are associated with this. Measures are suggested to mitigate compassion fatigue among this professionals, to reduce the effect on them and their patients.
May 2018 DOI 10.14302/issn.2381-862X.jwrh-18-2090
Yao Gbagbo FredCorresponding author
University of Education Winneba, Department of Health Administration & Education. P.O. Box 25 Winneba, Ghana.
Background: The Ghanaian culture expects women of reproductive age to reproduce. This makes pregnancy an acceptable occurrence in most tertiary institutions in Ghana. Although Ghanaian Universities allow pregnancy in school, challenges associated with pregnancies do not exempt pregnant students from following the academic requirements of the universities. This study therefore explores students’ experiences of copying with pregnancy in an academic environment in Ghana. Methods: This was a case study, quantitative and qualitative design using structured questionnaires and semi-structured interview guides respectively for data collection. Respondents comprised twenty (30) pregnant full time and part time female students from campuses of University of Education, Winneba. Data collection was between October 2016 and May 2017. Quantitative data were analysed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 23. The qualitative data was transcribed and manually analysed thematically. Results: The study found that majority of participants were adults between ages 26 and 30 years. More than half of them (66.7%) had no child and this was their first pregnancy which they felt was mistimed as it occurred during schooling, posing some physiological, financial and academic challenges which compelled students to devise various coping strategies to combine academic work and pregnancy amidst limited University provisions for pregnant students. Conclusions: The study results have policy and programme implications for meeting women’s needs for pursuing academic and reproductive goals concurrently. The study recommends that public universities in Ghana should institutionalise programmes on preconception counselling and coping with pregnancy in academic environment to enable female students make informed decisions on exercising their reproductive rights in whilst in the university to ensure positive maternal health outcomes.