Andrew Ifeanyichukwu Obi1,2
,
Ekaete Tobin3,
Isioma Okobia4,
Gani Owoeye1,2,
Otaniyenuwa Obarisiagbon1,2,
Esther Okogbenin5,
Julie Obi6
For correspondence:- Andrew Obi Email: andrew.obi@cerhi.uniben.edu Tel: +2348023447122
Accepted: 31 March 2021 Published: 14 November 2021
Citation: Obi AI, Tobin E, Okobia I, Owoeye G, Obarisiagbon O, Okogbenin E, et al. Determinants of knowledge and attitude towards depression among university academic staff in Benin City, Edo State. Trop J Med Dent Pract 2021; 2(1):9-15 doi: https://doi.org/10.47227/tjmdp/v2i1.2
© 2021 The author(s).
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..
Introduction: This study assessed determinants of knowledge and attitude towards depression among academic staff in a tertiary education institution in Nigeria to create awareness among relevant stakeholders on need to address this growing public health problem.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted involving 330 consenting academic staff of the University of Benin, Edo State, using a multistage sampling technique. Data was collected using self-administered structured questionnaire adapted from Depression Literacy Questionnaire, Mental Health Knowledge Schedule and Depression Stigma Scale. Knowledge of depression was classified into good or poor knowledge while attitude towards depression was classified as positive or negative.
Results: A large proportion of the participants studied had good knowledge (74.2%) of depression and positive attitude (63.6%) towards them. Respondents in the medical sciences were 6.937 (95% Cl = 1.626 – 29.598, p = 0.009) times likely to have good knowledge and 2.528 (95% Cl = 1.069 – 5.978, p = 0.035) times more likely to have positive attitude towards persons with depression compared to the non-medicals, while the junior staff category were 0.462 (95% Cl = 0.247 –0.866, p = 0.016) times less likely to have good knowledge compared to the senior staff category. Respondents with good knowledge had more positive attitude towards persons with depression (OR= 2.949, 95% Cl= 1.757-4.950, p < 0.001).
Conclusion: Majority of respondents had good knowledge of depression and positive attitude towards people with depression. The level of education and category of staff can significantly influence knowledge of depression among academic staff while knowledge of depression was can significantly influence the attitude towards people with depression.
