The impact of spirituality and resilience on mental distress among inmates in a northern state, Nigeria

Abstract

The burden of mental illness of inmates in low and middle income countries (LMICs) prisons was higher than in the developed ones. Positive interventions common in reversing the increasing prevalence of inmates’ mental distress in developed countries are rare in Nigeria, a LMICs. This study contributed to initiate mental health promotion in Nigerian prisons through studying mediating effect of positive interventions, specifically spirituality and resilience on inmates’ mental wellbeing. Mental distress of 63 male inmates of Bida prison, North-centre Nigeria was assessed with GHQ-12. The impact of resilience and spirituality on mental distress was measured by Resilience Scale and brief Spirituality Involvement and Beliefs Scale respectively. The mean age of participants was 27.27years (SD = 1.43years) and 70% of them had mental distress. Variables with statistically significant experience of mental distress were being single and having high mean resilience score. The study demonstrated the impact of marital status, resilience and spirituality on the mental wellness of the participants. This will aid mental health promotion of inmates in Nigeria prisons.