Health service utilization by patients with common mental disorder identified by the Self-Reporting Questionnaire in a primary care setting in Zomba, Malawi: a descriptive study.

BACKGROUND

There has been no study carried out to assess health service utilization by people with common mental disorder (CMD) in Malawi.

AIM

The aim of the study was to evaluate health service utilization patterns of patients with CMD in primary health care (PHC) clinics.

METHODS

The study was conducted in two PHC clinics in one of the 28 districts in Malawi. Face-to-face interviews with the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20) were conducted in a sample of 323 PHC attendees aged 18 years and older who attended the PHC clinics for any reason.

RESULTS

The prevalence of probable CMD in the sample was 20.1%. People with probable CMD had a higher mean number of health facility visits in the previous three months compared to those without probable CMD (1.6 vs 1.19, p = .02).

CONCLUSION

The study reveals high utilization of health services for people with CMD in the PHC setting. There is a need for PHC workers to improve skills in diagnosing patients with CMD to make PHC services more effective by reducing re-attendance and improving patient outcomes.