Parental mental illness and their offspring's mental health in Rwanda: neuropsychiatric hospital of Rwanda.

BACKGROUND: Offspring of the parents with mental disorders are at higher risk to have the mental diseases throughout the world. This study examined the association between psychopathology of parents and the mental health of their offspring in Neuropsychiatric Hospital of Rwanda, Butare Branch. METHODS: A cross-sectional study made up of case and control offspring was conducted on the case group made up of 80 offspring born to parents with mental diseases and a control group of 80 offspring from parents without mental disease. Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD, α = 0.82), Posttraumatic stress disorders scale (PTSD, α = 0.73) and the Test of Psychological Problems (TPP, α = 0.93) were used. STATISTICA version 8 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Results indicated a significance difference between the two groups on depressive symptoms, psychological problems and PTSD symptomatology. The case group seemed to experience high level symptoms than the control group. Results indicated that, among the offspring born to parents with mental disease, there was a significant correlation between anxiety and depression symptoms (r = 0.71, p < .001), PTSD and eating disorder (r = 0.75, p < .001), domestic violence and PTSD (r = 0.78, p < .001), aggressive behavior and PTSD (r = 0.79, p < .001), somatoform disorders and PTSD (r = 0.98, p < .001). No significant association between the low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, mental disorders induced drug abuse and PTSD was found. CONCLUSION: Offspring of the parents with mental disorders had higher risk to develop mental diseases than the offspring born to the parents without mental diseases. Taking into account the assessment of parents' mental illness when taking care of the offspring's psychological disorders is needed in the neuropsychiatric hospital.

Psychometric Properties of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) in Cancer Patients: Cancer Patients from Butaro Ambulatory Cancer Center, Rwanda.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of depressive disorders remains high in patients with cancer and their diagnosis and treatment remain an epidemiologic concern. Without proper screening and diagnosis, the necessary care and follow-up would not be possible for these patients who need potential support to increase their quality of mental health. Hence, the screening tools for depression are prominent in diagnosing this mental health disorder; however, there are few studies conducted for assessing psychometric properties of Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) amongst the cancer patients from developing countries. We, therefore, determined psychometric properties of the BDI-II among cancer patients from Butaro Ambulatory Cancer Center (BACC). METHODS: Cross-sectional study design was conducted among 425 cancer patients from the BACC, Rwanda. Confirmatory and exploratory factor (CFA) analyses were performed to compare the fit indices of three-factor and two-factor models of the BDI-II. The eligible participants were administered the BDI-II instrument. RESULTS: Average scores of depression was 16.3 (SD=9.8). Results showed an adequate consistency (Cronbach's α=0.904) and high correlations with the subscales of this instrument. Our findings showed that the area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristics analysis of BDI-II was 0.805. Our CFA results revealed that three-factor model (χ2=1699.921, p<0.001) represented a better model fit than the two-factor model of BDI-II (χ2=2115.397, p<0.001). In addition, the goodness of fit indices were tested and showed that the Beck's three-factor model had a better performance than the two-factor model. Kaiser-Meyer-Olin (KMO) measure of 0.916 demonstrated that the factor structure or sampling was adequate for analysis and the Bartlett's test of sphericity was highly significant (χ2=3780, p<0.001) and this revealed that the items of BDI-II were significantly correlated and sufficiently large. CONCLUSION: BDI-II presented a good reliability and validity that represent adequate psychometric properties. Its sensitivity and specificity were suitable. This psychometric measure is important in diagnosing and treating depression in cancer patients.

Regular antenatal care visits were associated with low risk of low birth weight among newborns in Rwanda: Evidence from the 2014/2015 Rwanda Demographic Health Survey (RDHS) Data.

Background: Low birth weight (LBW) remains the global unfinished agenda in most countries of the world especially in low- and middle-income countries. LBW subsequently has harmful effects on the lifestyle, psychosocial and physiological development of the child. Although it is known that antenatal care (ANC) visits are important interventions contributing to prediction of newborn birth weight, little has been conducted on effect of ANC visits on birth weight in Rwanda. This study aimed at determining the association between regular ANC visits and risk of LBW among newborns in Rwanda. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was conducted to analyse the effects of ANC on LBW using the 2014/2015 Rwanda Demographic Health Survey. Associations of socio-demographic, socio-economic, and individual factors of the mother with LBW newborns were performed using bivariate and multiple logistic regression analyses. Results: Prevalence s of LBW and macrosomia were 5.8% and 17.6%, respectively. Newborns delivered from mothers attending fewer than four ANC visits were at almost three-times greater risk of having LBW [aOR=2.8; 95%CI (1.5-5.4), p=0.002] compared to those whose mothers attending four or more ANC visits. Residing in a rural area for pregnant women was significantly associated with LBW [aOR=1.1; 95%CI (0.7-1.6), p=0.008]. Maternal characteristics, such as anemia, predicted an increase in LBW [aOR=3.5; 95%CI (1.5-5.4),p<0.001]. Those who received no nutritional counseling [aOR=2.5; 95%CI (2-8.5), p<0.001] and who were not told about maternal complications [aOR=3.3; 95%CI (1.5-6.6), p=0.003] were more prone to deliver newborns with LBW than those who received them. Pregnant women who received iron and folic acid were less likely to have LBW newborns [aOR=0.5; 95%CI (0.3-0.9), p=0.015]. Conclusion: ANC visits significantly contributed to reducing the incidence of LBW. This study underscores the need for early, comprehensive, and high-quality ANC services to prevent LBW in Rwanda.