Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana.
Department of Psychiatry, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.
BMC Pediatr. 2022 Jun 29;22(1):381. doi: 10.1186/s12887-022-03435-7.
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.
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.
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.
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.
尽管中低收入国家（LMICs），尤其是博茨瓦纳，有很大比例的青少年存在心理健康问题，但缺乏针对这些问题的当地研究来指导预防和治疗工作的增加。因此，我们旨在评估博茨瓦纳中学生样本中精神障碍（PD）的患病率及其相关风险因素。
本横断面研究采用多阶段抽样技术，纳入了来自哈博罗内的 13 所公立中学的 750 名学生。使用儿童和青少年迷你国际神经精神访谈（MINI-KID）对 PD 进行筛查。
参与者的平均年龄为 15.26 岁，标准差为 1.57 岁，女性占 53.6%。约 34%的人患有 PD，其中抑郁症最常见，其中 35%的人既未接受治疗，也不知道可获得的服务。围产期并发症（AOR=4.29；95%CI：1.04-17.70）、精神病史（AOR=2.19；95%CI：1.17-4.11）和物质相关问题（AOR=1.80；95%CI：1.22-2.65）预测 PD 发生的可能性。
我们的研究结果表明，博茨瓦纳的青少年有许多心理健康问题，这可能会影响他们的发展阶段。需要多部门合作，及时发现已确定的风险因素，并启动必要的预防和治疗措施。
