A descriptive study of clients' perspective on psychoeducation in a Nigerian tertiary hospital

Abstract

Background: Giving information to patients and their relations about the illness has a proven advantage towards sustaining an improved mental health in the patients. This study set out to know if the patients that attended the mental health services in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria received psychoeducation during formal clinic consultations.
Methods: A cross sectional descriptive study that interviewed randomly selected 336 patients and their relatives who have been utilizing the hospital's Specialty Outpatient Clinic facility. A pretested interviewer administered questionnaire was designed for this study that sought to know if during clinic consultations, the respondents were given basic information about the illness, the drug treatment and how to cope with the stress and stigma that comes with mental illness.
Results: Schizophrenic disorder was the predominant illness among the respondents and despite an average of about 7 years of coming for routine checkups at the clinic, most of them were not given information on the basic issues about the illness. The majority of the respondents were not told how and what the drugs do. More than half of the respondents were told the names of their illness, and how to use their medications respectively. The majority of them were not informed about the likely side effects of the drugs. More than ninety percent of the respondents were not informed about how to cope with the stress of the illness and how to manage with the stigma associated with the illness.
Conclusion: The data suggest that the patients and their relations do not receive enough psychoeducational interventions during routine clinic visitations.

Keywords: Clients, Psychoeducation, Consultation.