Common mental disorders in mothers of children attending out-patient malnutrition clinics in rural North-western Nigeria: a cross-sectional study

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec> <jats:title>Background</jats:title> <jats:p>Children with uncomplicated severe acute malnutrition are managed routinely within out-patient malnutrition treatment programs. These programs do not offer maternal mental health support services, despite maternal mental health playing a significant role in the nutritional status of children. Additionally, the burden of maternal Common Mental Disorders (CMDs) is poorly described among mothers of children attending these programs.</jats:p> <jats:p>This study thus determined the burden and risk factors for maternal CMDs among children attending out-patient malnutrition clinics in rural North-western Nigeria.</jats:p> </jats:sec><jats:sec> <jats:title>Methods</jats:title> <jats:p>We conducted a cross-sectional study among 204 mothers of children with severe acute malnutrition who attending eight out-patient malnutrition clinics in Jigawa, North-western Nigeria. We used the World Health Organization Self-Reporting Questionnaire-20 (WHO SRQ-20) screening tool, a recognised and validated proxy measure for CMDs to identify mothers with CMDs. The prevalence of maternal CMDs was determined by identifying the proportion of mothers with SRQ scores of ≥8. Risk factors for CMD were determined using multivariable logistic regression.</jats:p> </jats:sec><jats:sec> <jats:title>Results</jats:title> <jats:p>Maternal CMD prevalence in children attending these facilities was high at 40.7%. Non-receipt of oral polio vaccine (OPV) (AOR 6.23, 95%CI 1.85 to 20.92) increased the odds for CMD. While spousal age above 40 (AOR 0.95, 95%CI 0.90 to 0.99) and long years spent married (AOR 0.92, 95%CI 0.85 to 0.98) decreased the odds for CMD.</jats:p> </jats:sec><jats:sec> <jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title> <jats:p>Our findings indicate maternal CMD burden is high in out-patient malnutrition clinics in North-western Nigeria. Maternal mental health services would need to be integrated into the community management of acute malnutrition programs to provide more holistic care, and possibly improve long-term outcomes after discharge from these programs.</jats:p> </jats:sec>