Mental Distress and Associated Factors Among Hospitalized Medical-Surgical Adult Inpatients in Public Hospitals, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2020: Cross-Sectional Study

• Main Authors: Tesfa S, Giru BW, Bedada T, Gela D
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dove Medical Press 2021-08-01
• Series: Psychology Research and Behavior Management
• Subjects: mental distress; hospitalized medical-surgical adult inpatients; public hospitals
• Online Access: https://www.dovepress.com/mental-distress-and-associated-factors-among-hospitalized-medical-surg-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-PRBM

Shegaw Tesfa,1 Berhanu Wordofa Giru,2 Tadesse Bedada,2 Debela Gela2 1Department of Nursing, College of Health Science, Wolkite University (WKU), Wolkite, Ethiopia; 2School of Nursing and Midwifery, College of Health Science (CHS), Addis Ababa University (AAU), Addis Ababa, EthiopiaCorrespondence: Debela Gela Email [e-mail]: Mental distress is a mental or psychological syndrome which influences the health status, treatment effectiveness, and quality of care of a hospitalized medical-surgical inpatient. It is more common in a hospital setting than in a community setting. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of mental distress and associated factors among hospitalized medical-surgical adult inpatients in public hospitals, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2020.Methods: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted among a total of 408 study subjects from March 1 to 30, 2020. The study participants were recruited by systematic random sampling technique and data were collected using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. The collected data were entered into EpiData 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 26 for analysis, and then binary and multiple logistic regressions were performed to check the association between dependent and independent variables.Results: The prevalence of mental distress among hospitalized medical-surgical adult inpatients in public hospitals was 53.1%. Variables of being married [AOR = 2.67; 95% CI (1.065, 6.683)], private employee [AOR = 2.21; 95% CI (1.001, 4.900)], daily laborer [AOR = 4.70; 95% CI (1.218, 18.215)], rural residence [AOR = 1.85; 95% CI (1.047, 3.264)], drinking alcohol [AOR = 1.68; 95% CI (1.025, 2.740)], previous psychiatric illness [AOR = 3.40; 95% CI (1.078, 10.737)] and comorbidity [AOR = 1.93; 95% CI (1.200, 3.094)] were found to be significantly associated with mental distress.Conclusion: The prevalence of mental distress was high and being married, a private employee, daily laborer, living in a rural area, previous history of psychiatric illness, alcohol use, and comorbidity were associated with mental distress among hospitalized adult inpatients. Therefore, healthcare providers should provide special consideration to those groups of patients admitted to the hospital.Keywords: mental distress, hospitalized medical-surgical adult inpatients, public hospitals