Title: Community health workers stigmatizing attitudes in regards of persons with a mental disorder: a challenge of maternal mental health in a selected health centre in Rwanda

Biography:

Vedaste Baziga working as Lecturer in University of Rwanda, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, School of Nursing and Midwifery, in the Department of Mental Health Nursing.He is experienced teacher/ Nurse Educator and specialized in Mental Health Nursing. He is actively involved in academic activities and has worked as practitioner and supervisor in the Psychiatric Referral Hospital and District Hospitals.  Also, He is involved in research activities having many research projects (3 already published, and another he accepted for publication and 2 remaining in the process of data analysis). In addition, He participates in community outreach activities such as mobile clinic in partnership with different NGOs and public institutions etc. To increase my competences, knowledge and skills, He had furthermore, participated in Continuous Professional Development (CPD) in different areas. 

Abstract

Mental disorders (MD) is significantly contributing to global burden of disease and this is the fourth leading cause of global disability. To overcome this concern, the World Health Organization recommended integration of mental health care into general health care facilities and conjointly with nurses in Health Centres, community Health Workers (CHWs) have an important role in the implementation of WHO recommendation about the integration. The objectives of this study are as follows: To describe stereotypical attitudes amongst CHWs regarding persons with a mental disorder and to explore relationships between specific socio-demographic factors (age, gender, level of education, experience and familiarity) and CHWs’ stigmatizing attitudes towards persons with mental disorders in health center of a selected district hospital in Rwanda.

A quantitative, descriptive cross sectional study was conducted among CHWs operating under health centre of a selected District hospital in Rwanda and a self-report questionnaire that included person four demographic variables and two sections such as level of contact and the Community Attitudes towards Mental Illness - Swedish version. The self-report questionnaire was distributed to available CHWs (n=138) and data analysis were performed using the SPSS version 20. This study revealed that participants held negative stereotypes towards persons with MD. Association test revealed more negatives stereotypes towards MD amongst lower educated CHWs, younger CHWs and less experienced CHWs. Also, correlation test revealed that increases in LOC correlates with decrease in score in some CAMIs, subscales and total score respectively.