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Quality of life of depressed and suicidal patients seeking services from traditional and faith healers in rural Kenya

Overview of attention for article published in Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, May 2017
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1 Redditor

Citations

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142 Mendeley
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Title
Quality of life of depressed and suicidal patients seeking services from traditional and faith healers in rural Kenya
Published in
Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, May 2017
DOI 10.1186/s12955-017-0657-1
Pubmed ID
Authors

Christine W. Musyimi, Victoria N. Mutiso, Sameera S. Nayak, David M. Ndetei, David C. Henderson, Joske Bunders

Abstract

In rural Kenya, traditional and faith healers provide an alternative pathway to health care, including mental health care. However, not much is known about the characteristics of the populations they serve. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between depression, suicidal ideation, and socio-demographic variables with Quality of Life (QoL) indicators in a sample seeking mental health services from traditional and faith healers in rural Kenya. Understanding QoL in this sample can help develop mental health policy and training to improve the well-being of this population. This was a cross-sectional epidemiological survey (n = 443) conducted over a period of 3 months among adult patients seeking care from traditional and faith healers in rural Kenya. Data were collected using the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II), Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (BSS) and WHO Quality of Life Survey- BREF (WHOQOL-BREF), and analyzed using correlation analyses, parametric tests, and regression analyses. Increasing levels of depression were associated with lower QoL among patients seeking care from traditional and faith healers. BSS scores were significantly negatively correlated with overall, physical, psychological, and environmental QoL, p < .05. There was a statistically significant difference between mean scores for overall QoL between depressed (M = 2.35, SD = 0.76) and non-depressed participants (M = 3.03, SD = 0.67), t(441) = 8.899, p < .001. Overall life satisfaction for depressed participants (M = 2.23, SD = 0.69) was significantly lower than non-depressed participants. Regression analyses indicated that depression, suicidal ideation, and being married predicted lower overall QoL controlling for other variables. Post hoc tests and subgroup analysis by gender revealed significant differences for females only. Depression, and older age predicted lower life satisfaction whereas being self-employed predicted higher life satisfaction, when controlling for other variables. This study sheds light on correlates of QoL in depressed and non-depressed patients in rural Kenya. Evidence suggests that traditional and faith healers treat patients with a variety of QoL issues. Further research should focus on understanding how these issues tie into QoL, and how these healers can target these to improve care.

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The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 2 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 142 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 142 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 22 15%
Researcher 16 11%
Student > Ph. D. Student 13 9%
Student > Bachelor 10 7%
Student > Doctoral Student 8 6%
Other 20 14%
Unknown 53 37%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Psychology 25 18%
Medicine and Dentistry 20 14%
Nursing and Health Professions 11 8%
Social Sciences 9 6%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 4 3%
Other 17 12%
Unknown 56 39%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 09 May 2017.
All research outputs
#14,267,331
of 23,310,485 outputs
Outputs from Health and Quality of Life Outcomes
#1,141
of 2,198 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#168,454
of 311,422 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Health and Quality of Life Outcomes
#29
of 71 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,310,485 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 37th percentile – i.e., 37% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,198 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.6. This one is in the 46th percentile – i.e., 46% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 311,422 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 44th percentile – i.e., 44% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 71 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 54% of its contemporaries.