title: Psychological distress among adults admitted to medical and surgical wards of a Regional Referral Hospital, Uganda.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Physical illness is commonly associated with psychological distress that may be a direct effect of the illness or an adjustment in coping with the physical illness or its treatment. Little is known about psychological distress of patients on general wards in developing countries.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to determine the extent and associations of psychological distress among adult in-patients on medical and surgical wards of Mbarara hospital in Uganda.
  
  
  METHODS
  It was a cross sectional descriptive study among 258 adult in-patients. The WHO endorsed self report questionnaire (SRQ-25) was used to assess psychological distress with a cut off of 5/6. The MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) was used to identify specific psychiatric disorders. Cross-tabulations and multivariate analysis was used to analyze the relationship between psychological distress and different factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and fifty eight individuals (61%) had psychological distress. One hundred and nine (42%) met criteria for at least one major psychiatric diagnosis. Only 6% of these were recognized by the attending health workers. Psychological distress was significantly associated with previous hospitalizations, ward of admission and marital status.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a high level of psychological distress among the physically ill and it is often unrecognized and untreated.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda. grukundo@must.ac.ug
authors: Z G
authors: ZG
authors: Rukundo
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Nakasujja
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Musisi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014454:Uganda / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: physical illness; psychiatric; psychological distress
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