PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCE USE AMONG PSYCHIATRIC OUTPATIENTS OF A TERTIARY HOSPITAL IN NIGERIA

📄 Project Abstract

Psychoactive substances and mental illness is a common comorbidity with poor treatment outcome on patients in some parts of the world. In Nigeria, there is dearth of information on the use of psychoactive substance in mentally-ill patients and their effects. This study investigated the influence of socio-demographic factors, prevalence and types of psychoactive substance use and the effect of these substances on adherence to prescribed medication among psychiatric out-patients of the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) Zaria, Nigeria. For this descriptive cross-sectional study, all adult patients (18 years and above) who had previously attended the clinic at least1 year prior to the data collection period of 4 months were used. A sample size of 207 obtained from an estimated population of 450 regular attendees expected to visit the clinic was calculated. From the routine clinic follow-up, each consecutive 4th patient eligible for the study was interviewed until the sample...