Effect of Interdisciplinary Collaboration on Effectiveness of Mental Health Counselling on Depressed Patients in Yenagoa Metopolis, Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Bodisere Juliet Teibowei

Bodisere Juliet Teibowei Department of Foundations, Arts and Social Science Education, Faculty of Education, Federal University Otuoke, Nigeria

Keywords: Interdisciplinary collaboration, Effectiveness, Mental Health Counselling, Depressed Patients

Abstract

The study evaluates the effect of interdisciplinary collaboration on effectiveness of mental health counselling on depressed patients in Yenagoa metopolis, Bayelsa State, Nigeria. The objectives of the study included to evaluate the effect of interdisciplinary collaboration on effectiveness of mental health counselling on depressed patients and to find out the differential effect of the effectiveness of mental health counselling on male and female patients in Yenagoa Metopolis, Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Two research questions and two hypotheses tested at 0.05 significant level guided the study. Sample comprised of 30 patients diagnosed with depression drawn through purposive sampling technique. Three stages were used in collecting data: pre-treatment, treatment and post-treatment. Quasi-experimental design was adopted for the study. Two instruments were used, namely, the Patient Health Questionnaire–9 (PHQ-9) developed by Spitzer et al. (1999) and Mental Health Inventory-18 (MHI) by Veit & Ware (1983). Reliability of the instruments was established through test-retest; coefficients obtained were 0.82 and 0.78 for PHQ-9 and MHI-18 respectively confirming the instruments reliability for use in the study. The data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation while the hypotheses were tested using t-test statistics. Results obtained revealed that interdisciplinary collaboration has effect on effectiveness of mental health counselling on depressed patients and that there was significant differential effect of the effectiveness of mental health counselling on male and female patients in Yenagoa Metopolis, Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that government and educational institutions should provide support in form of sponsorship grants for interdisciplinary collaboration amongst researchers and that counselling support centres should be provided by the State government manned by professional counsellors to provide psycho-social support for clients needing help.

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