Author(s)

Nwoga Charles^1*, Ndak Zuhumnan², Danboyi Mafai³, Dakwak Samuel⁴, Piwuna Christopher¹, Armiyau Aishetu⁵

¹Department of Psychiatry, University of Jos, Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.
²Hospital Management Board, Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.
³Quintessential Healthcare Centre, Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.
⁴Department of Psychology, University of Jos, Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.
⁵Jos University Teaching Hospital, Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.

Aim: To establish the substance use pattern and psychological distress among the in-coming nursing students of the College with a view towards recommending ways to prevent or reduce complications of substance use disorder in the college. Study design: A cross-sectional design was used. Place and duration: The study took place at the College of Nursing and Midwifery, Jos, Plateau state between the 3^rd and 14^th of February, 2020. Methodology: The study was carried out during the orientation program of the 206 first-year students of the college. Following approval, a health talk and explanation of the aims and objectives, their consent was obtained in writing. Two-staged sampling with a sociodemographic questionnaire and Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 followed by urine drug testing was done. The participants were debriefed on the findings while maintaining strict confidentiality. There were 65 males and 141 females. Results: Lifetime prevalence rate of any substance use was 21.8%. More females 33 (23.4%) than males 12 (18.5%) used substances. Only 9 (4.5%) volunteered their substance use, the rest was revealed by the urine testing. Prevalence of alcohol was 23 (11.2%), ketamine 13 (6.3%), nicotine 3 (1.5%), benzodiazepines 3 (1.5%), cannabis 2 (1.0%) and opiods 1 (0.5%). Symptoms of psychological distress were high as 118 (57.3%) and 82 (38.8%) were symptomatic for anxiety and depression respectively. Alcohol use was significantly related with having symptomatic anxiety (P = 0.02) and depression (P = 0.00) in the study. Conclusion: Considering the high prevalence of substance use among the participants, educational intervention and policies should be designed to prevent substance dependence with its complications within the students.

Substance Use, Students, Jos, Nigeria

Charles, N. , Zuhumnan, N. , Mafai, D. , Samuel, D. , Christopher, P. and Aishetu, A. (2021) Substance Use Pattern among Nursing Students in Jos, North Central Nigeria. Open Journal of Psychiatry, 11, 80-90. doi: 10.4236/ojpsych.2021.112008.