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Background: Women with mental illness have a special need for family planning as they carry a high risk of unplanned pregnancy, sexual violence and, the poor obstetric outcomes due to their mental illness, as well as teratogenicity from exposure to psychotropic medications lower antenatal care utilization. Objective: To assess knowledge, and utilization of family planning and associated factors among women attending psychiatric outpatient clinics in Addis Ababa. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 423 women attending the outpatient psychiatric clinics of three general and one specialized mental hospital in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. A structured and pretested questionnaire were administered by psychiatric nurses. Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify factors associated with utilization of family planning methods. Result: Four hundred twenty-two participants who had follow up at the psychiatric outpatient departments participated in the study. Almost 88% of participants had an unintended pregnancy. Only 68% of study participant had ever heard about Family planning. Just over one third (38.6%) reported current use of at least one method of Family planning. Of those not using family planning 73.3% had no intention to have children. And 38.8% did not have any intention to use Family Planning in the future. Fear of drug-interaction with psychiatric medication was the most common reason not to use contraceptives. Having one or two children was associated with higher utilization of family planning [adjusted odds ratio (95%, confidence interval) 2.05 (1.06, 3.99)]. Conclusions: In this study, the majority of women with mental illness were not using family planning methods. The Awareness of the Family planning methods is lower than the national average. Education and counselling about family planning for women attending psychiatric outpatient departments should be strengthened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT In Ethiopia there is a severe shortage of child mental health professionals. Identification and intervention for young children's mental health problems is crucial to improve developmental trajectories and reduce the severity of emotional and behavioral disorders. Teachers can play an important role in early problem detection. This role is particularly impactful in developing countries with limited mental health care resources. However, teachers' knowledge about mental health varies dramatically. This study tested the influence of a training intervention to improve teachers' ability to accurately identify preschool children's emotional and behavioral problems in 24 schools in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Sensitivity and specificity of teacher identification, and overall agreement with an established measurement criterion (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) were examined 2 years following training compared to preintervention baseline, and a nonintervention control group of 12 schools. Results indicate that the teacher training was significantly associated with more accurate identification of children's problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Raising a child with a developmental disability or physical health condition can have a major impact on the lives of their families, especially in low-income countries. We explored the impact on such families in Ethiopia. A total of 241 child-caregiver dyads were recruited from two public hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Of these, 139 children were diagnosed with a developmental disability (e.g. autism, intellectual disability) and 102 children with a physical health condition (e.g. malnutrition, severe HIV infection). The family quality of life was assessed using caregiver reports on the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ (PedsQL-FIM™). The disability weight score, which is a Global Burden of Disease measure to quantify health loss, was estimated for each child. Families with a child with a developmental disability reported lower quality of life than families caring for a child with a physical health condition (p <.001). Mean disability weight scores in children with a developmental disability were higher than in children with a physical health condition (p <.001), indicating more severe health loss. Disability weight scores were negatively associated with the family quality of life in the whole group (B=−16.8, SE=7.5, p =.026), but not in the stratified analyses. Caring for a child with a developmental disability in Ethiopia is associated with a substantial reduction in the family quality of life. Scaling up support for these children in resource-limited contexts should be prioritized. ● Ethiopian carers of children with developmental disabilities have low quality of life. ● Their quality of life is lower than carers of children with physical health problems. ● Child health loss is associated with a lower family quality of life. ● Scaling-up of support for these families deserves prioritization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]