Obbessive– compulsive symptoms in a sample of Nigerian undergraduate students: comparison with two instruments

Abstract

The study is designed to determine the level of obsessive-compulsive symptoms among a sample of medical students. To test the association between ‘trait' and ‘symptom' in obsessionality. One hundred and thirty-eight students had their socio-demographic profiles obtained. The subjects self-rated the Sandler – Hazari Obsessive Compulsive Inventory, and were assessed by a trained nurse with the Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale YBOCS. Forty-six percent of the subjects scored above the normal mean of the trait subscale of the Sandler – Hazari Inventory; 28.3% scored above the symptom normal mean. The mean score on the Trait subscale was 9.17+-3.40 SD, and on the symptom subscale, 7.03+-3.31 SD. The Mean Score on the YBOCS obsession subscale was 4.09+-3.44 SD, and on the compulsive subscale, 3.49+-3.72 SD. The total YBOCS score correlated with Trait but not symptom score (r = 0.20, P<0.05). The Trait and symptom scores were correlated (r = 0.44, P < 0.01). Obsessionality was high in the studied sample. Trait and State symptoms are correlated.

Keywords: keObsessive compulsive, Symptoms, Medical students, Nigeria.

Journal of Biomedical Investigation Vol. 4 (1) 2006: pp. 1-8