Fashoto Olubunmi Y, Sibiya Maureen N, Oladimeji Olanrewaju
Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa.
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Applied Social Sciences, Eswatini Medical Christian University, Mbabane, Eswatini.
J Public Health Afr. 2025 Jun 13;16(1):1337. doi: 10.4102/jphia.v16i1.1337. eCollection 2025.
Integrating digital technologies into mental healthcare offers a transformative shift in the provision of online-based mental health services to Nigerians. This is crucial for Nigeria in order to minimise and curb the developing health emergency because of COVID-19.
This study seeks to explore the perception of healthcare workers (HCWs) towards the use of digital technologies in improving mental services in Nigeria.
This study was carried out in four neuropsychiatric hospitals in South-West Nigeria.
Mixed-method convergent design was used. Purpose sampling utilising snowball method was utilised in selecting qualitative participants, while proportional stratified sampling method was adopted for quantitative participants. Quantitative data collection tools were administered to 317 participants at the selected neuropsychiatric hospitals while interview was conducted on 16 qualitative participants. Thematic analysis was employed on qualitative data and descriptive statistical analysis (mean, standard deviation, frequencies, percentages, crosstabs, Chi-square) was conducted on quantitative data.
Findings showed that 58% of psychiatric nurses, 17% of clinical psychologists, 16% of psychiatrists and 6% of occupational therapists view digital technologies as effective in combination with face-to-face therapy. Additionally, qualitative findings showed that HCWs view digital tools as helpful tools for both patients and HCWs and offer the opportunity to immensely advance mental services.
Incorporating digital technologies into mental health service delivery enhances mental health services, increases prompt access to healthcare and reduces the effect and impact of any future health emergencies.
This study raised awareness on the need to improve mental health services in public mental health facilities and advocate for the integration of digital technologies to improve mental health service delivery.
将数字技术融入精神卫生保健领域，为向尼日利亚人提供在线精神卫生服务带来了变革性转变。这对尼日利亚至关重要，以便将因新冠疫情而出现的日益严重的卫生紧急情况的影响降至最低并加以控制。
本研究旨在探讨医护人员对在尼日利亚利用数字技术改善精神卫生服务的看法。
本研究在尼日利亚西南部的四家神经精神病医院开展。
采用混合方法收敛设计。定性研究参与者采用滚雪球法进行目的抽样，定量研究参与者则采用比例分层抽样法。在选定的神经精神病医院，向317名参与者发放了定量数据收集工具，同时对16名定性研究参与者进行了访谈。对定性数据采用主题分析法，对定量数据进行描述性统计分析（均值、标准差、频数、百分比、交叉表、卡方检验）。
研究结果显示，58%的精神科护士、17%的临床心理学家、16%的精神科医生和6%的职业治疗师认为数字技术与面对面治疗相结合是有效的。此外，定性研究结果表明，医护人员认为数字工具对患者和医护人员都有帮助，并提供了极大推进精神卫生服务的机会。
将数字技术纳入精神卫生服务提供体系可增强精神卫生服务，增加及时获得医疗保健的机会，并减少未来任何卫生紧急情况的影响。
本研究提高了人们对改善公共精神卫生设施中精神卫生服务的必要性的认识，并倡导整合数字技术以改善精神卫生服务的提供。
