BA Ola

• FRANZCP, FRCP EdinburghPhD, M.D., D.Ed. M. Ed., M.S., M.Sc., MBChB, FMCPsych, FWACP, REBT (Cert.), SFP (Cert.), MI (Cert.), BAT (Cert.)
• Consultant Psychiatrist/Professor (Full) at Griffith University

This paper delves into technostress management strategies and lecturers’ productivity in public universities in Lagos State, Nigeria. The challenges contributing to technostress management among lecturers hinged on heavy workloads, lack of technological skills and constant changes in technology. The design of the study was correlational. 3,301 acad...

Background: Suicidal behaviour is an established psychiatric complication of congestive cardiac failure (CCF), contributing significantly to morbidity and death by suicide. The magnitude and risk factors for suicidal behaviour among patients with CCF are yet to be unpacked, especially in developing nations such as Nigeria. Aim: To determine the pr...

Socio‐ecological factors are major determinants of poor mental health across the life span. These factors can lead to health inequalities, which refer to differences in the health of individuals or groups (Kirkbride et al., 2024). Health inequity “is a specific type of health inequality that denotes an unjust, avoidable, systematic and unnecessary...

This chapter argues that biological and genetic factors, as well as good medical care, can impact on sickle cell disorders (SCD) and how the condition is experienced. We adopted a ‘social determinants of health’ (SDH) lens to understand and explain sociocultural, environmental, economic and political factors which can worsen the impact of SCD for p...

In Africa, sickle cell disorder (SCD), an autosomal recessive genetic disorder, has been recognized as a public health priority by the World Health Organization (WHO). Although progress has been made in the management of the disease, much of this is yet to be fully leveraged in many parts of Africa, with the result that the complications often lead...

Objective The sleep of healthcare students is worth discovering. Mental health and self-rated health are thought to be associated with sleep quality. As such, valid instruments to assess sleep quality in healthcare students are crucial and irreplaceable. This study aimed to investigate the measurement properties of the Sleep Quality Questionnaire (...

The objective of this study was to explore the potential correlation between school climate and teachers' productivity in public senior secondary schools in Ogun West Senatorial District, Nigeria. The study employed a correlational research design and was guided by four null hypotheses. Data were collected using a self-constructed questionnaire tit...

This paper examined academic mentorship and lecturers’ productivity in public universities in Lagos State, Nigeria with an adopted correlation design and using the Taro Yamane technique to draw a sample size of 354 respondents from a population of 3,110 academic staff in four public universities in Lagos State, Nigeria. Three research questions wer...

This paper examined academic mentorship and lecturers’ productivity in public universities in Lagos State, Nigeria with an adopted correlation design and using the Taro Yamane technique to draw a sample size of 354 respondents from a population of 3,110 academic staff in four public universities in Lagos State, Nigeria. Three research questions wer...

This paper examined the implementation of learning management system in Nigerian public higher education. The study assessed the level of implementation of learning management systems by public tertiary institutions and identified various challenges that hinder effective utilization of Learning Management System. The effectiveness of learning manag...

This paper examined the implementation of learning management system in Nigerian public higher education. The study assessed the level of implementation of learning management systems by public tertiary institutions and identified various challenges that hinder effective utilization of Learning Management System. The effectiveness of learning manag...

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate factors associated with sleep quality in healthcare students and to determine whether depressive and anxiety symptoms may explain some of the associations between sleep quality and self-rated health. Study design: This is a cross-sectional study at wave one. Methods: A total of 637 healthcare students wer...

Introduction: Cancer is a leading cause of mortality worldwide and is associated with a wide range of psychiatric morbidities. The study aimed at determining the profile of psychiatric morbidity among cancer patients. Methods: In this descriptive study, 130 patients with different types of cancer were selected by systematic random selection and wer...

This study examined e-books utilisations and students' academic achievement in universities in Lagos State: implication for educational planners. With the use of descriptive survey research methodologies, this study was driven by three research questions and three null hypotheses. All six of Lagos State's traditional universities make up the study'...

Substance use among Nigerian adolescents has increased significantly in the past decade, highlighting the need to implement evidence-based, effective prevention programs as one strategy to help reverse this trend. This study aimed to identify profiles of adolescent substance use and parenting and school correlates of these profiles to inform preven...

This editorial presents the contentious debate among authors from different disciplines on the problems of psychiatric diagnoses with conduct disorder, and opposition‐defiant disorder as case illustrations. Furthermore, it provides an overview of opinions of experts on mental health interventions for adolescent refugees.

There is now substantial evidence that psychosis exists in a continuum. This study assessed the rate and correlates of distressing psychotic-like events (PLEs) in a non-clinical population in Lagos, Nigeria. A face-to-face household survey was completed by 11,246 adult participants (aged 18-75 years). Clinically significant symptoms of PLE were ass...

Background The impact of behavioral disorders on custodial school-engagement has not been studied. We investigated the impact of conduct disorder (CD), oppositional-defiant disorder (ODD), and attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) on the level of school-engagement among detained boys in a youth correctional facility in Lagos, Nigeria. M...

This study examined major and subthreshold depression, their relationships with sociodemographic/risk factors and quality of life (QOL) of internally displaced older persons in a rural community in north central Nigeria. A community-based, cross-sectional study conducted among 200 older adults in Riyom, Nigeria. The respective modules of the World...

Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that was first identified in Wuhan, Hubei, China, in December 2019. It was recognized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization on 11 March 2020. Outbreak forecasting and mathematical modelling suggest that these num...

This study examined the associations between young people's sexual orientation and suicidal behaviour, and whether sexual orientation is related to high-risk suicidal behaviour independently of socio-demographic characteristics, depression and/or anxiety among Nigerian young people. We conducted a cross-sectional study among 582 heterosexual, gay,...

This study examined school mapping principles and compliance level by public and private senior secondary schools in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study population consisted of all senior secondary schools in education district v. The simple random sampling technique was used to select 5 respondents from 20 secondary school in Education District V in L...

ABSTRACT Background: The coronavirus disease will worsen existing mental health disorders and bequeath new mental disorders on many. The objective of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of significant depressive and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, as well as identify its associated risk factors among people living under the co...

This study aimed to describe the level and form of alcohol consumption, drinking motives and the correlates of alcohol use disorders in Lagos, Nigeria. Adults (n = 11,246) selected via multi-staged random sampling, completed questionnaire detailing sociodemographic variables, alcohol and other psychoactive substance use, presence of common mental d...

Background: There is a paucity of research on the effectiveness of SBIRT in a non-medical setting with populations referred majorly from the criminal justice system in low resource settings. These populations have high rates of substance use but have limited access to interventions. Materials and methods: A simple random sampling technique was u...

Background: Media coverage of suicides in Nigeria appears to be explicitly descriptive and deviates from the recommended best practice. Despite these shortcomings, verifiable information provided by these media outlets could arguably, at the minimum, mirror the reality of the trends and patterns of suicidal behaviour in Nigeria. Aim: This study ai...

The present study identifies the potential barriers to holistic rehabilitation, including educational re-engagement, of justice-involved youth in Africa. This was done using quantitative data on the educational and other psychosocial problems presented by a cohort of justice-involved youth and qualitative data on the realities on ground in the corr...

Objective : This study was designed to analyze the content, quality, and adherence of media reporting of suicidal behavior in Nigeria from 2016 to 2019 using the responsible reporting on suicide guidelines by the World Health Organization. Also, to note the frequency of the presence of possibly hurtful/ negative users generated comments sections....

Abstract Purpose The purpose of the paper is to examine the likely impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health with particular attention to the mental health of children, adolescents, and adults in the most populous country in Africa – Nigeria. Presently, the Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) is well-established in Nigeria with increasing community...

The current body of knowledge on the prevalence rate of psychiatric morbidity among adolescents and youth within the juvenile justice system in sub-Saharan Africa is yet to be systematically synthesized.. Consequently, African literature in the field has remained obscure, out of consideration in global discourses around the subject.; and incoherent...

This study aimed to assess the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on frontline health care workers during the early stages and surge of the pandemic in Lagos State, Nigeria. Our findings serve as evidence to support the design and implementation of mental health services targeted at frontline health workers during the ongoing pandemic or...

The Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is now well-established in Africa with cases reported from all countries on the continent. Despite the significant progress that has been made in the response to the pandemic in Nigeria, relative to the period of Ebola epidemic, the currently reported number of COVID-19 cases are likely under-estimat...

Background: Globally, it has been established that gynaecological malignancies are a leading cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality. The diagnosis and treatment of female genital cancers are associated with marked psychological distress in the form of depression and anxiety. Literature has shown that gynaecological cancers have a significa...

In one person, sickle cell disorders (SCD) can present as chronic illness, in another a disability and for some people it is an acute and serious life-threatening illness. All three can also be present in the same person but social and environmental conditions are important to understand, as no individual is the same. To illustrate how SCD is affec...

Sickle cell disorders are a complex multisystem inherited genetic blood disorders that affect millions of people worldwide and complications of the disorders can include anaemia, pain episodes and organ damage. Medical advances, early detection, intervention in infancy and specialised care across the life-course are transforming these genetic bloo...

Background: The coronavirus disease will worsen existing mental health disorders, and bequeath new mental health disorders on many. Our primary objective was to evaluate the prevalence of psychiatric symptoms, and identify their risk factors among people living under the COVID-19 lockdown in Lagos, Ogun, and Abuja in Nigeria. Methods: It was a cros...

Background: Various factors are noted to play a pivotal role in sustaining the mental health and well-being of women with neoplasia of the reproductive tract. Studies have shown that cognitive attributes such as coping strategies and cognitive appraisal styles are relevant in the prevention or the promotion of wellness among female genital cancer p...

One of the main rationales for the separation of the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems, is the need to protect young people from victimization. It is assumed that, by separating adolescents from adults, the risk of victimization in the former system will be reduced. However, there is still global scarcity of comparative data on the experi...

The Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is now well-established in Africa with cases reported from all countries on the continent. Despite the significant progress that has been made in the response to the pandemic in Nigeria, relative to the period of Ebola epidemic, the currently reported number of COVID-19 cases are likely under-estimat...

Background In African societies, the path-to-care that the ill and their relatives seek via consultation of traditional and religious healers is related to the concept of the causation, nature and origin of mental illness. There is a shortage of mental health personnel and facilities in Nigeria; hence, alternative healthcare providers such as Reli...

A study of cases of suicide attempts seen under the psychiatry consultation-liaison/emergency services over a three-year period, under the suicide prevention initiative of the hospital.

Background: The study aimed to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of a developed stepped care intervention for management of depression in primary care. Methods: A cluster randomised controlled trial with primary care centres (PHCs) as unit of randomization. Five PHCs were randomised to stepped care intervention (SCI) group and another 5 PHCs w...

Introduction: Shisha consumption is a growing public health issue all over the globe and public health awareness about its deleterious health consequences is still not sufficiently raised. Methods: In this location-based study of nightclubs in Ibadan, Nigeria, 633 patrons of selected nightclubs were interviewed in order to obtain information on...

Background: There is mixed evidence for the hypothesis that the risk of depression after stroke is influenced by the location of lesions in the hemispheres, demographic and clinical factors, and disability of stroke survivors. Aim: The current study determined the prevalence of depression and its socio-demographic and clinico-pathological correlat...

Sickle cell disease is a major public health issue in sub-Saharan Africa, with Nigeria having the largest absolute numbers of young people living with sickle cell disease. Research in the Global North suggests that young people with sickle cell disease are not well supported at school, whilst research in the Global South focuses on attitudes to the...

Introduction: Renewed interest in health-related stigma has invigorated calls to understand factors and processes underlying stigma. However, few empirical studies explore the influences of structural discrimination and moral status on leprosy-related stigma. We investigated how sociocultural context and organisational policies and practices influ...

BACKGROUND: Prolonged use of pentazocine in sickle cell disease (SCD) because of chronic pain may result in mental dependence (addiction) and/or physical dependence leading to withdrawal symptoms on suddenly stopping its use. This study was aimed at determining the prevalence of pentazocine addiction among SCD patients and health-care worker (HCW)...

The transtheoretical model of change involves progression through five stages-precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance. This model has several clinical implications, despite its criticism as a scientific module. More so, studies on addictive behaviours have demonstrated that self-change in substance misuse occurs with i...

It is still unclear whether the gender difference in the rate of depression cuts across cultures or is specific to some depressive symptoms. This study evaluated the gender difference in current prevalence, symptoms, comorbidity, and correlates of depression in Lagos, Nigeria. A total of 11,246 adult participants (6525 females and 4712 males) in a...

The Nigerian juvenile justice system: from warehouse to uncertain quest for appropriate youth mental health service model – RETRACTION - O. Atilola, G. Abiri, B. Ola

The aim of the World Health Organization to reduce suicide by 10% by 2020 is a call to all countries to establish national prevention strategies. The establishment of the Suicide Research and Prevention Initiative (SURPIN) was prompted because there is a shortage of comprehensive and structured suicide prevention initiative with a national spread,...

Mental health services for youths within the juvenile justice system remain a contemporary global discourse. To bring perspectives from under-resourced regions, we examine the current limitations of some globalised models for mental health services within the juvenile justice system in Nigeria. The important, multi-systemic steps needed to adapt th...

Mental health service provision for youth within the juvenile justice system remains a topic of contemporary global discourse. To bring perspectives from under-resourced regions, we examine the current limitations of some globalised models for mental health services within the juvenile justice system in Nigeria. The important multi-systemic steps n...

Substance-related disorders (SRD) are common psychiatric morbidities among adolescents within youth correctional systems. Identification and treatment of SRDs is critical for successful reformation and reintegration. Lack of simple, structured, valid, brief screening instruments that can be easily administered and scored by lay workers militates ag...

Background: Depression and anxiety are very prevalent, highly co-morbid, burdensome with huge treatment gaps in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). This study aimed to estimate the current prevalence of symptoms of depression and generalised anxiety, examine co-morbid conditions and associated sociodemographic factors in Lagos state, Nigeria....

Purpose: There is disregard in the scientific literature for the evaluation of psychiatric in-patient care as rated directly by patients. In this context, we aimed to explore satisfaction of people treated in mental health in-patient facilities. The project was a part of the Young Psychiatrist Program by the Association for the Improvement of Ment...

Background: The relationship between psychopathology and quality of life (QoL) and well-being among young incarcerated offenders has hardly been explored. Aims: Our aim was to test the hypothesis that higher self-rated psychopathology would be associated with lower QoL among adolescents resident within youth correctional facilities in Lagos. Me...

Background: High prevalence rates of psychiatric morbidity have been documented among adolescents within youth correctional institutions in Nigeria. However, there has not been prior investigation to determine the capacity for and nature of mental health services being provided in these institutions. Objectives: To assess psychiatric morbidity amon...

Objective This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge, perceived challenges and attitude of primary health care (PHC) workers in Lagos to depression and its management in the PHC. Methods Health workers (n = 607) from 49 “flagship” PHCs in Lagos were evaluated for their level of knowledge, experience, competence, attitude and perceived challenges t...

Brain fag syndrome (BFS) was first described by Raymond Prince as a mental health disorder associated with study among African students in 1960, with the phrase “brain fag” being the name by which the students themselves called the condition, which they believed was due to brain fatigue. There is need for further research exploring how indigenous a...

Objective To determine the prevalence of alcohol consumption and the effectiveness of the alcohol, smoking, and substance involvement screening test (ASSIST)-linked brief intervention on hazardous and harmful alcohol use in semirural settings in Nigeria. Methods In this single arm non-randomized intervention study delivered by community health ext...

Background To combat the increasing rate of suicide, basic data on suicidal behaviours reflecting the uniqueness of the locality are needed in sub-Saharan Africa. Aims To assess the prevalence of suicidal ideation and associated factors. Method Adults (n=11 246) from the five administrative divisions of Lagos State completed questionnaires detail...

Evidences indicate a high unmet need for the treatment of individuals with substance use disorders in Nigeria. This review highlighted factors that accounted for such unmet needs such as inadequate or lack of data that will drive effective intervention, dearth in the number of experts in the addiction field , inadequate infrastructure , lack of pha...

Background Lack of relevant data has continued to militate against the development of policy and practice toward identification and treatment of alcohol/substance abuse among adolescents coming in contact with the juvenile justice system in Nigeria. This study aims to provide such data, including its policy/practice implications. Methods One hundr...

Tobacco smoking is a major risk factor for a number of chronic diseases, including a variety of cancers, lung disease and damage to the cardiovascular system. The World Health Organization recently calculated that there were 6 million smoking-attributable deaths per year and that this number is due to rise to about eight million per year by the end...

Objective To determine whether screening, brief intervention, and referral for treatment can reduce the prevalence of tobacco use in rural and semi-rural settings. Method Design and participants: A non-randomized clinical trial with assessments at baseline and post-intervention assessments at 3 and 6 months was conducted in a rural and semi-rural...

Implementation of effective policies that will reduce harmful and hazardous alcohol consumption requires a good understanding of the policy development process and which strategies are likely to work with good public support. This paper focuses on reviewing alcohol policy action in Nigeria against the recommendation of the World Health Organization...

Sickle cell disorders (SCD) and depression are both chronic illnesses of global significance. Past research on SCD and depression struggles to make sense of statistical associations, essentializes depression within the person with SCD, and treats stigma as an automatic correlate of chronic illness. A mixed methods study (March 2012–April 2014) was...

Background: School-based mental health programmes, a potential avenue to reach many children and youth, are not yet developed in Nigeria. In view of the importance of cultural nuances in mental health issues, initial groundwork towards the establishment of these programmes in Nigeria must be cognizant of cultural peculiarities at the outset. Obje...

Objective . To determine the prevalence and correlates of alcohol use among a sample of Nigerian semirural community dwellers in Nigeria. Methods . In a single arm nonrandomized intervention study, the assessment of baseline hazardous and harmful alcohol use and associated risk factors was conducted in two semirural local government areas of Oyo St...

Implementation of effective policies that will reduce harmful and hazardous alcohol consumption requires a good understanding of the policy development process and which strategies are likely to work with good public support. This paper focuses on reviewing alcohol policy action in Nigeria against the recommendation of the World Health Organization...

Introduction Secondary school students in Nigeria are under intense pressure to perform well in their academics so as to have competitive advantage in advancing their studies. This pressure has been linked to western derived psycho-pathologies such as depression, anxiety and culture bound syndrome such as brain fag syndrome. Aim To examine gender...

Introduction Adolescents in Nigeria tend to report feelings of mental, physical and general fatigue without having correspondingly exerted themselves to trigger this. This tiredness has been observed to also affect their sleep habits. Aim We set out to investigate how the report of tiredness by in-school adolescents tends to affect their sleep hab...

Introduction Nigerian adolescents report various sleep disorders metaphorically based on the local/native description of such disorders. Hence, it is sometimes difficult for clinicians without a good grasp of the nuance in their description to understand their presentation. Aim To develop a culturally relevant (Nigerian) instrument for assessing s...

A well-recognized effective strategy for child mental health promotion and intervention particularly in poor resource settings is to incorporate child mental health into school health programmes. However in Nigeria, school-based mental health services are scarce or non-existent. In order to implement school-based mental health programme (SBMHP) in...

Attitude towards education has significant relationship to academic outcomes of students of various age groups and also to their mental health. There has been increasing empirical evidence supporting the association between mental health and studying among students. The prevalence of mental ill-health is higher among students having problems with s...

Brain Fag Syndrome (BFS) is a psychiatric disorder associated with study among African students. Among secondary school students, it affects two to four out of every ten students. One of the consequences of this illness is early foreclosure of education in affected students. Aetiological factors such as nervous predisposition, motivation for achiev...

p> Background. Sixty-eight per cent of women and 57% of men with mental illness are parents. There is increasing evidence of adverse psychosocial impact of parental mental illness on their children. However, among children whose parents have mental illness, the potential contribution of the children’s beliefs about mental illness to their own emoti...

Aim: This study examined the caregivers’ perception of the effect of dental conditions on general well‑being and family life of a group of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)‑infected Nigerian children. A secondary aim was to investigate correlations between the children’s sociodemographic and health‑related variables and caregivers’ global ratings...

Background: Drug use is among adolescents is prevalent worldwide. Since many adolescents spend most of their time in schools which provide opportunities to access adolescents at a time when they are vulnerable to risk taking behaviour such as alcohol and tobacco use. The kinds of experiences students (i.e. adolescents) have at home and with teacher...

Title: Setting Up a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service in a State Specialist Hospital in Nigeria: Challenges and Lessons Learnt. Authors: Ibigbami Olanrewaju [FWACP (Psychiatry) M.Clin.Psychol.]: Department of Mental Health, State Specialist Hospital, Asubiaro, Osogbo, State of Osun, Nigeria. Eegunranti Benjamin [FMCPsych]: Department of P...

Background. Sixty-eight per cent of women and 57% of men with mental illness are parents. There is increasing evidence of adverse psychosocial impact of parental mental illness on their children. However, among children whose parents have mental illness, the potential contribution of the children’s beliefs about mental illness to their own emotiona...

Tobacco and alcohol use continue to be associated with negative health outcomes among adolescents and young adults. New technologies such as text messaging can increase access to substance use interventions and have now been established as an evidence-based, recommended approach towards substance use prevention. This review presents results from a...