Psychiatric disorders and associated risk factors in a sample of adolescents in Gaborone, Botswana: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background Despite the high proportion of adolescents living with mental health issues in low- to middle-income countries (LMICs), especially in Botswana, there is a significant deficit of local research to guide an increase in prevention and treatment. We, therefore, aimed to assess the prevalence and associated risk factors of psychiatric disorders (PD) in a sample of secondary school students in Botswana. Methods This cross-sectional study included 750 students from the 13 public secondary schools in Gaborone using a multi-stage sampling technique. The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview for Children and Adolescents (MINI-KID) was used to screen for PDs. Results The participant’s mean age was 15.26 and SD 1.57 years, with 53.6% being female. Approximately 34% had a PD, with depression being the commonest, of whom 35% were neither receiving treatment nor aware of the available services. Perinatal complications (AOR = 4.29; 95%CI: 1.04–17.70), a family history of mental illness (AOR = 2.19; 95%CI: 1.17–4.11) and substance-related problems (AOR = 1.80; 95% CI:1.22–2.65) predicted the likelihood of developing PD. Conclusions Our findings revealed that adolescents in Botswana have many mental health issues which may affect their developmental phases. A multi-sectoral collaboration is needed for the timely detection of identified risk factors and initiation of the necessary prevention and treatment measures.

Youth perspectives of working with near peer youth lay counsellors: The Safe Haven Pilot

“…Youth living with HIV (YLWH) in SSA can be more likely to experience common mental disorders (CMDs), such as depression and anxiety, compared with their HIV‐negative peers (Too et al, 2021). Recent studies on the burden of CMDs on YLWH in SSA showed depression and anxiety occurred at rates of 14%–53% and 15%–25%, respectively (Dessauvagie et al, 2020; Olashore et al, 2022). YLWH are at higher risk of CMDs due to cultural stigma, neurological impacts of HIV, fear of dying from HIV and side effects of some antiretroviral therapies (ARTs) (Too et al, 2021).…”