Abstract
Background: Understanding of mental illness in sub-Saharan Africa has remained under-researched in spite of the high and increasing neuropsychiatric burden of disease in the region. Aims: This study investigated the causal beliefs that the Igbo people of south-eastern Nigeria hold about schizophrenia, with a view to establishing the extent to which the population makes psychosocial, biological and supernatural attributions. Method: Multi-stage sampling was used to select participants (N = 200) to which questionnaires were administered. Results: Mean comparison of the three causal models revealed a significant endorsement of supernatural causation. Logistic regressions revealed significant contributions of old age and female gender to supernatural attribution; old age, high education and Catholic religious denomination to psychosocial attributions; and high education to biological attributions. Conclusions: It is hoped that the findings would enlighten, augment literature and enhance mental health care service delivery.Citation
Ikwuka, U., Galbraith, N. and Nyatanga, L. (2013) Causal attribution of mental illness in south-eastern Nigeria, International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 60(3), pp. 274-279.Publisher
SAGEJournal
International Journal of Social PsychiatryAdditional Links
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0020764013485331Type
Journal articleLanguage
enISSN
0020-7640Collections
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