Abstract
BackgroundMental health services for Rivers State and surrounding States in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria are provided only at the neuropsychiatric Rumuigbo Hospital in Port Harcourt City, Rivers State, Nigeria. The study explored mental health nurses’ experiences of providing mental health services at the hospital in an attempt to understand policy implications, identify difficulties and challenges of delivering mental health care services.MethodsA qualitative study using in-depth interview was conducted among 20 mental health nurses working at the neuropsychiatric Rumuigbo Hospital. This was reviewed within the Townsend mental health policy template of context and resources domains.ResultsA lack of political support and senior position in the Ministry of Health hinders service delivery, the prevalence of institutionalized stigma, a lack of training, and system failure to provide services at all levels of care is hampering service delivery. The inadequate allocation of resources for hospital renovations and equipment is preventing appropriate client care, as does the lack of funding for drugs, the cost of which makes them unaffordable, affecting clients staying on treatment.ConclusionEducation and training of mental health care professionals should be given priority to remedy human resource shortage, provide incentives to motivate health professionals for psychiatric practice, and move toward decentralization of care into general health care services. Information should be provided at all levels to overcome the myths surrounding the causes of mental illnesses, to reduce stigma and discrimination of the affected and their families.
Highlights
Mental health services for Rivers State and surrounding States in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria are provided only at the neuropsychiatric Rumuigbo Hospital in Port Harcourt City, Rivers State, Nigeria
The inclusion criteria were that the mental health nurses had to be employed full-time with at least one year experience working at the facility, to ensure that they had adequate experience to participate and understand the mental health policy environment for service delivery
Stigma and discrimination associated with mental disorders are common in Nigeria, mostly associated with local belief system regarding the causes of mental disorders [29,30,31,32]
Summary
Mental health services for Rivers State and surrounding States in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria are provided only at the neuropsychiatric Rumuigbo Hospital in Port Harcourt City, Rivers State, Nigeria. Mental disorders account for a significant and growing proportion of the global burden of disease, yet remain a low priority in many low- and middle-income countries [1]. It is anticipated that by 2030, mental health problems will constitute 15% of the global burden of disease [2]. In spite of the growing burden of mental disorders and the resultant level of suffering for individuals and society, efforts to address it remain unsatisfactory [3,4,5]. The international trend is no longer to provide mental health only at institutional levels of care, but to decentralized these to community-based mental health care services [6,7]. The World Health Organization (WHO) proposes the integration of mental health services into primary health care, these being supported by other levels of care [8]. Failure to addresses the problems associated with caring for people with mental health problems can increase poverty in families, and contribute to the poor attitude of policy makers to issues of mental health [9,10]
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