Caregiver-perpetrated violence against patients with severe mental disorders and associated factors in Bahir Dar, northwest Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND

Caregiver abuse has widespread negative effects on patients with serious mental illnesses in terms of ethics, law, society, culture, and economy. However, studies in low-income nations, such as Ethiopia, are scarce. Consequently, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of caregiver aggression and related variables in patients with severe mental illnesses.

METHODS

An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 394 people with severe mental disorders who were selected through a systematic random sampling technique. Data were gathered through in-person interviews using Epicollect-5 software on a smartphone. The data were then exported into the Statistical Package for Social Science for analysis. A p-value of less than 0.25 in the bivariate analysis indicated a potential candidate for additional multiple logistic regression analysis to control the possible confounders. A p-value of less than 0.05 was used to establish statistical significance in multivariate logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS

The study's participant response rate was 98 %. There was 36.3 % (95 % CI = 31.5 %, 41.3 %) caregiver violence. Of these, 49.7 % (71/143) of them reported having experienced abuse from caregivers in the previous year. A significant number of factors were associated with the outcome variable including, average monthly income of less than 2000 Ethiopian Birr (AOR = 3.31; 95 % CI 1.33, 8.24), co-morbid illness (AOR = 3.45; 95 % CI 1.51, 7.98), number of episodes (AOR = 3.29; 95 % CI 3.59, 11.02), length of illness (AOR = 4.17; 95 % CI 2.19, 7.91), and having a history of aggression in the past (AOR = 4.80; 95 % CI 3.48, 7.90).

CONCLUSION

More than a third (36.3 %) of individuals with serious mental illnesses experienced caregiver violence. The following factors were found to be predictive of carer violence: income, co-morbid illness, number of episodes, and history of aggression. This indicates there is a need for public health attention among patients with severe mental disorders to prevent the violation of their human rights.