Background: Work and work environment are important influences on both health and production. Psychosocial hazards, including Work place occupational violence and racial discrimination, may be assuming a major place in occupational health and safety, especially in developing countries like Nigeria. Work place occupational violence and racial discrimination, though appears latent, equally appears to receive little attention in workplaces. Aim: The study was to assess the prevalence and pattern of workplace violence and racial discrimination as work place psychosocial hazards in a tertiary University in Southern Nigeria. Methodology: Following approval from the Research Ethic Committee of the University of Port Harcourt, 600 consenting staffers of the University of Port Harcourt were recruited by systematic random sampling and pretested structured closed ended self administered questionnaire and adapted Matrix Risk checklist were used for data collection from respondents. Results were presented via descriptive and analytical methods. Results: Work place violence, i.e, physical assault had a prevalence of 9.9% (n = 55). Also Ethnic/tribal discrimination had a 7% (n = 39). Risk factors included work load (98.2%) home-work interface (82.0%), career 70.1%, interpersonal relationship (64.0%), work schedule 53%, lack of career development 58.7%, unfair target or goals 46.2%, job security 20.1% and working alone or night work 21.7%. Conclusion: Work place occupational violence and racial discrimination with its attendant preventable risk factors is present among workers at the University of Port Harcourt. There is need by the University to adopt and enforce appropriate occupational health and safety policies and measures to prevent and control this psychosocial hazard.

Background: HIV, a communicable disease, is assuming an alarming epidemic dimension with increasing level of psychiatric co-morbidity and mortality. These psychiatric comorbidities appear to be generally under-recognized and under-treated by clinicians. Aim: The aim of this study, therefore, was to determine the pattern and prevalence of psychiatric co-morbidity among PLWHIV attending the virology clinic of UPTH. Methodology: Following ethical approval from the ethical committee of the hospital and informed consent from the participants, 230 subjects were recruited based on the study’s inclusion and exclusion criteria, via a systematic random sampling. PLWHIV were further administered with the study’s instruments including the socio-demographic questionnaire and GHQ-12. The data were analyzed using the SPSS version 20 statistical package. Confidence interval was set at 95% while P- value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: One hundred and sixty (69.6%) out of the total number of 230 PLWHIV studied had no psychiatric diagnosis while 70 (30.4%) had different associated psychiatric morbidity. Of the total number with psychiatric diagnosis, 38 (16.0%) had depressive illness. Generalized anxiety disorder was diagnosed in 8 (3.5%) respondents, while 4 (1.7%) respondents had mixed anxiety and depression. Nine (9) (3.8%) patients had adjustment disorder while 3 (1.3%) females were diagnosed with hyposexual dysfunction. Six (2.6%) patients had alcohol abuse, 11 (5.8%) were diagnosed with PTSD and only 1 patient (0.4%) had panic disorder. Conclusion: The findings of this study support the impression that HIV infection is a chronic debilitating illness, associated with psychiatric co-morbidity. The results support the call that the management of patients with HIV should include attention to their mental health status in order to enhance the quality of care.

Background: Work place psychosocial hazards are assuming a central place in occupational health and safety, especially in developing countries like Nigeria. Psychosocial hazards refer to the mental stresses of work including all sources of fatigue and stress caused by work, work structure, design and regulation that affect output and employee's wellbeing and health. Several factors have been identified to increase the risks of psychosocial hazards. A number of risk factors may predispose workers to certain work place hazards. Aim: The study was to assess the possible risk factors for psychosocial hazards among Workers at the University of Port Harcourt. Methodology: Ethical approval for the study was obtained and 600 consenting staffers of the University of Port Harcourt were recruited by systematic random sampling and a risk Matrix which is a validated instrument (interviewer administered) as well as a pretested structured closed ended self administered questionnaire was distributed among respondents. Results were presented using descriptive and analytical methods. Results: From the study, risk factors for psychosocial hazards included work load with 548 (98.2%), followed by homework interface with 458 (82.0%), lack of possibilities to advance forward 392 (70.1%), lack of career development 327 (58.7%), work content with 329 (60%) while constant state of alertness (CSA) was the least with 98 (17.6%). Conclusion: Workers at the University of Port Harcourt experienced or are faced with a number of risk factors for psychosocial hazards; most of them are organizational and employer's factors. Therefore there is a need to institute appropriate measures to address preventable risk factors and improve the work environment thereby increasing workers effectiveness, productivity and improving their health.

The prevalence of essential hypertension has continued to increase worldwide, and its consequences have remained a growing concern. A number of sociodemographic and clinical variables may however serve as key determinants of the extent to which it is associated with psychiatric comorbidity as well as impairment of quality of life. The aim of this study, therefore, was to determine the sociodemographic and clinical factors that may influence the level of psychiatric comorbidity and quality of life associated with persons with essential hypertension attending the general outpatient clinic of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH). Following ethical approval and informed consent from the participants, 360 subjects making up the study group were recruited based on the study's inclusion and exclusion criteria. A pilot study was carried out. Subjects were further administered with the study's instruments including the socio-demographic/clinical questionnaire, GHQ-12, WHO Composite International Diagnostic Interview (WHOCIDI) and the WHOQOL-Bref. The data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 16 statistical package. Confidence interval was set at 95%, while p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The study found a prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity of 64.4% among the hypertensives. Among the study group, there was no significant relationship between the presence of psychiatric comorbidity and age class (p = 0.350), gender (p = 0.22), level of education (p = 043), income class (p = 0.81) and occupation. Persons who were married were significantly more likely to have a psychiatric comorbidity (p = 0.001). There was also no significant relationships between age of onset of illness (p = 0.60), duration of illness (p = 0.73), duration of treatment (p = 0.82) and self-stigma (p = 0.15). The findings of this study support the impression that essential hypertension is a chronic debilitating illness, associated with psychiatric comorbidity and reduced quality of life, that is largely significantly influenced by a number of sociodemographic and clinical factors. The results support the call that the management of patients with

BACKGROUND: Work and work environment have enormous influences on both health and production. Psychosocial hazards, including bullying, may be assuming a major place in occupational health and safety, especially in developing countries like Nigeria. Work place bullying, though appears latent, equally appears to receive little attention in workplaces. AIM: The study was to assess the prevalence and pattern of work place bullying among Workers at the University of Port Harcourt. METHODOLOGY: Following approval from the Ethical Committee of the University of Port Harcourt, 600 consenting staffers of the University of Port Harcourt were recruited by systematic random sampling and pretested structured closed ended self administered questionnaires were distributed among respondents. Results were presented via descriptive and analytical methods. RESULTS: Work place bullying was common and verbal abuse was the most prevalent (43.9%), followed by assigning meaningless tasks unrelated to the employee's job (41.2%). Risk factors capable of making a worker vulnerable to Work place bullying included work load (98.2%) as the most prevalent risk factor perceived by the respondents, followed by homework interface (82.0%), lack of possibilities to advance (70.1%), interpersonal relationship (64.0%). From the study, respondents identified periodic in-service training (PIT) 76.7%, as the most effective possible remedies among others that could be put in place by the University to reduce the prevalence and burden of psychosocial hazards in the University. Conclusion: Work place bullying among workers at the University of Port Harcourt is common occasioned by preventable risk factors. There is need for the University to institute appropriate occupational health and safety measures to reduce the harmful occurrences of psychosocial hazards in the institution in other to improve the working environment.