Psychiatry and Mental health, Behavioral Neuroscience, Biological Psychiatry
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Scopus Publications
Scopus Publications
The structure of undergraduate psychiatric medical education in Nigerian medical schools Olatunji Alao Abiodun, Peter Omoniyi Ajiboye, Mumeen Olaitan Salihu, Dauda Sulyman BMC Medical Education, 2026 BACKGROUND: Mental disorders represent a major global health burden, yet undergraduate psychiatric training in many low- and middle-income countries remain suboptimal. In Nigeria, misalignment between regulatory frameworks and international best practices has limited the prioritisation of psychiatry in medical education. AIMS: To provide a nationwide overview of undergraduate psychiatric training, structure and assessment methods in Nigerian medical schools. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of accredited Nigerian medical schools was conducted between June and July 2024 using a 28-item questionnaire administered electronically to psychiatric departmental heads or lecturers. Descriptive analysis was performed using STATA 17.0. RESULTS: Of 48 accredited medical schools, 40 (83.3%) had psychiatric lecturers who could complete the questionnaire, while 39 participated (response rate: 97.5%). Standalone departments of psychiatry were present in 64.1% of schools, although nearly half employed only one to three psychiatrists. Most schools (76.9%) offered no psychiatric teaching in the preclinical years, and 94.9% had no independent assessment of behavioural sciences. During the clinical years, 46.2% provided four weeks of psychiatric clerkship, while only 15.4% met the WHO recommended eight weeks. Emergency and community psychiatric exposure was largely absent. Although 59.0% of schools used OSCE/OSPE for clinical assessment, only 28.2% conducted psychiatry as a standalone examination, and just 17.9% allocated full independent weighting (100%) at the final MBBS level. CONCLUSION: Undergraduate psychiatric training in Nigerian medical schools remains insufficient in scope, duration, and priority, with substantial variability across institutions. Harmonised and enforceable regulatory reforms aligned with international best practices are urgently needed to strengthen psychiatric education and improve mental health competencies of future doctors. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study was approved by the Institutional Review Committee of the Kwara State University Teaching Hospital with approval protocol number KWASUTH/IRC/246/VOL.II/106.
Psychiatrists’ and trainees’ knowledge, perception, and readiness for integration of artificial intelligence in mental health care in Nigeria Olatunji Alao Abiodun, Peter Omoniyi Ajiboye, Mumeen Olaitan Salihu, Dauda Sulyman, Adesanmi Akinsulore, Okwudili Obayi, Hassan Bala Salihu BMC Psychiatry, 2025 Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionising healthcare globally, including in Nigeria. AI is promising in psychiatry, particularly in addressing the shortage of psychiatrists and rural healthcare gaps. However, research on AI adoption among Nigerian psychiatrists is unavailable. This study assesses Nigerian psychiatrists’ and trainees’ knowledge, perception, and readiness toward AI adoption in psychiatric practice. An online cross-sectional survey was conducted using a convenience sample of 200 psychiatrists and trainees. Participants completed a structured online questionnaire assessing demographics, knowledge, perception, and readiness for AI adoption in psychiatry. The mean age of the participants is 39 years (Range: 26–68). Most (86.5%) were aware of AI’s usefulness in psychiatric practice, particularly in diagnostic assistance (54%), patient monitoring (60%) and predicting outcomes (59%). However, only 38.5% were familiar with its use. About 73.5% had a positive perception towards AI integration in psychiatry; Most agreed to AI’s potential benefits in the standardisation and personalisation of care plans (63%), addressing the shortage of psychiatrists (61%), minimises bias (73.5%), and prompt help-seeking behaviour among patients (68%). Respondents were sceptical about AI surpassing average psychiatrists in tasks requiring empathy (91.0% unlikely) and mental status examinations (68% unlikely). Data security, potential loss of human interaction, and diminished empathy were significant concerns. Only 29.5% had used AI-based tools, and 79.5% expressed future adoption readiness. Nigerian psychiatrists view AI as valuable in addressing psychiatric service gaps but emphasise the need for ethical regulations and targeted training to ensure safe, empathetic, and culturally appropriate AI applications in psychiatry. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Committee of the Kwara State University Teaching Hospital with approval protocol number KWASUTH/IRC/246/VOL.II/46. Not applicable.
An open-access EEG dataset from indigenous African populations for schizophrenia research S.K. Mosaku, E.O. Olateju, K.P. Ayodele, A. Akinsulore, P.O. Ajiboye, O.I. Oloniniyi, A. Ayorinde, O. Agboola, E. Obayiuwana, O.B. Akinwale, A.O. Oyekunle Data in Brief, 2025 Machine-learning pipelines for schizophrenia demand large, ethnically diverse electroencephalography (EEG) corpora, yet African populations remain under-represented in the public domain. The African Schizophrenia EEG Dataset (ASZED-153) helps close this gap with 153 raw, 16-channel recordings from 76 clinically characterized patients and 77 matched controls recruited in south-western Nigeria (mean age ≈ 39 years). Signals were acquired at two hospital units using Contec KT-2400 (200 Hz) and BrainMaster Discovery24-E (256 Hz) systems under harmonized protocols, retaining only the devices' default filter settings. Each session contains four paradigms-eyes-closed resting state, arithmetic working-memory, auditory oddball to elicit mismatch negativity, and a 40 Hz auditory steady-state response-so oscillatory, ERP and cognitive-load markers can be compared within the same individuals. Recordings are released unchanged in European Data Format, accompanied by structured .gnr sidecars detailing clinical scores, device settings and protocol metadata, enabling transparent end-to-end pipelines Data are organized in a version-controlled tree with a public key-map, allowing new African centers to append recordings without breaking existing scripts and paving the way for federated growth beyond Nigeria. By uniting ancestral diversity, multi-task paradigms and minimal preprocessing, ASZED-153 will allow researchers audit ancestry-linked performance drift in existing classifiers, probe biomarkers that may be masked in Euro-Asian cohorts, benchmark algorithms across hardware heterogeneity, and prototype reproducible, open science workflows. ASZED-153 is openly available via Zenodo under a CC-BY licence, and contributions to future releases are welcomed. We anticipate that this resource will accelerate the development of fair, generalizable and clinically useful EEG-based tools for schizophrenia worldwide.
CONCORDANCE BETWEEN SELF-REPORT PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCE USE AND URINE DRUG TEST AMONG STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN, NIGERIA: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY Baba Awoye Issa, Ganiyu Toyin Olanrewaju, Alfred Bamiso Makanjuola, Peter Omoniyi Ajiboye, Olushola Abejide Adegunloye, Mosunmola Florence Tunde-Ayinmode, Roy Ndom, Oluwabunmi Idera Nimata Buhari, Abdullah Dasliva Yussuf, Olatunji Alao Abiodun African Journal of Drug and Alcohol Studies, 2023 The prevalence of psychoactive substance use is increasing globally, and university students are not left behind. Self-report, using questionnaire has been the common method of assessing substance use amongst the students' population. This is, however, fraught with problems of poor reporting and intentional lie. Urine Drug Test (UDT) is a biochemical method that tests the recent use of substances either as a direct test of the psychoactive substance or its metabolite(s). This cross-sectional study aims to study the concordance between self-report and UDT amongst students' population. Two thousand five hundred and fifty students of the University of Ilorin, Nigeria completed a questionnaire based on the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for student substance-use surveys. Substances investigated in the survey were alcohol, cigarettes, cannabis, strong and mild stimulants, hypno-sedatives, cocaine, opiate, organic solvents, and hallucinogens. A subset of the total population, made of three hundred and two of the students were, subsequently, selected to participate in the urine drug test using a commercially available 12-items UDT kit. The reported lifetime and current prevalence of the substances were: tobacco, 11.5% and 3.7%; alcohol, 38.4% and 15.4%; cannabis, 9.0%and 3.8%; stimulants 32.5% and 15.8%; sedatives 11.7%, 4.8%, opioids 25.3% and 7.6%; cocaine was 4.7% and 1.6%; Hallucinogenic substances lifetime prevalence was 6.6% and a current prevalence of 1.4%. The lifetime prevalence for solvent use was 7.4% while current use was 1.6%. There was discordance between the outcome of the self-report and the result of UDT. Many respondents who tested positive for one substance or the other did not self-report ever using the substance. In conclusion, there is discordance between selfreport and results of the UDT. Many students who did not report ever use of psychoactive substances tested positive for substances. This study further emphasized the superiority of UDT over self-report for psychoactive substances among university students. We recommend that whenever suspicion of possible psychoactive substance use is made among university students, UDT should be the method of assessment. UDT is equally encouraged in school clinics and sports centres.
The psychological impact of intensive care unit admission on relatives of critically ill patients O.A. Ige, I.K. Kolawole, P.O. Ajiboye Rwanda Medical Journal, 2021 Introduction: It is recognized that ICU patients are exposed to massive stresses both from their life-threatening illness and the necessary intensive medical procedures they are subjected to. These stresses may lead to psychological problems like depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. However, the psychological demands and impact of the ICU on the relatives of these patients are often not appreciated. We aimed to determine the prevalence of anxiety and depression and the influence of ICU specific interventions on the development of psychological symptoms in relatives of ICU patients. Methods: This prospective, descriptive, questionnaire-based study was conducted on all consenting primary caregivers of patients on admission in the intensive care unit during the study period. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the General Health Questionnaire were used to determine the presence of psychological disorders during this study.Result: In this study, GHQ demonstrated a 72.5% prevalence of psychological illness in relatives of ICU patients. The prevalence of psychological illness using Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was 56.3% on the anxiety scale and 55% on the depression scale.Conclusion: Critical care can result in the development of psychological disorders among primary caregivers of ICU patients. Intensive care physicians need to pay more attention to their care's impact on the psychological health of their patients’ relatives.
An investigation of the patterns and outcomes of electroencephalographic (EEG) recording requests in the management of neuropsychiatric disorders in a teaching hospital in Nigeria Peter Omoniyi Ajiboye, Olatunji Alao Abiodun, Alexander Ikponmwosa Ogbebor African Health Sciences, 2017 Objective To evaluate the relevance of Electroencephalography (EEG) in the management of various neuropsychiatric conditions in University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Ilorin. Background EEG is still relevant in the diagnosis and management of patients with seizure disorders and extends to other neuropsychiatric conditions. However, very few studies have examined the use of EEG in developing countries, including Nigeria. Methods The EEG records of 154 patients between January 2012 and December 2012 were reviewed. EEG unit's records, including EEG request forms and EEG reports were examined. Socio demographic data, clinical data and the neurologist's comments on the EEG recordings were extracted and recorded on the proforma form. Results A total of 142(92.2%) of the patients out of 154 had complete records and were studied. Majority (84.5%) of the patients were below the age of 30 years. Various types of seizure disorders accounted for 80% of the provisional diagnosis. The EEG diagnosis based on the interpretation of the EEG records showed that 96 (67.6%) of the patients had normal records. Conclusion EEG still plays a very important role in the investigation of neuropsychiatric conditions especially epilepsy in developing countries. EEG facilities should be readily available.
Self-reported sleep parameters among secondary school teenagers in middle-belt Nigeria EO Sanya, PM Kolo, OO Desalu, OA Bolarinwa, PO Ajiboye, MF Tunde-Ayinmode Nigerian Journal of Clinical Practice, 2015 BACKGROUND Available evidences seem to suggest increasing trend in sleep deficit among teenagers worldwide, and there is limited information on this among Nigerian teenagers. This study was carried out to determine the basic sleep schedule and sleep duration among schooling teenagers in Ilorin, Nigeria. METHODS This is a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted among 20 selected public secondary schools in Ilorin, Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was used to randomly select participating schools. RESULT A total of 1033 students participated in the study; of these 47.3% were males and 51.7% females. Students mean age (standard deviation) was 15.3 ± 1.6 years with a range of 12-19 years. Majority (76.2%) of participants co-share bed with at least one person and some (23.8%) slept alone in bed. The three leading reasons given for going to bed were: Tiredness - 31.1%, completion of house assignment - 20.5%, and parental directive - 12.4%. 10% of teenagers do make regular phone calls at night and 5.5% surf internet and use computers at night. Regular habits of daytime sleepiness were reported by 8.2% of study participants. Students' mean sleep duration during school days was 9.33 ± 2.29 h compared to 10.09 ± 1.32 h at weekend (P < 0.05). The duration of night time sleep was adequate (>9 h) in 41% of students; borderline (8-9 h) in 44.3% while 13.3% of the students had insufficient nighttime sleep duration (<8 h) P < 0.05. CONCLUSION A substantial number of students had borderline nighttime sleep duration and so had potentials to transit into the problematic insufficient range. To prevent this, there is a need to educate schooling teenagers on the dangers associated with prolonged sleep insufficiency.
Sero-prevalence of hepatitis B and C among mentally ill patients attending a tertiary hospital in Nigeria IdayatA Durotoye, BabaA Issa, Abayomi Fadeyi, AbdullahD Yussuf, AlakijaK Salami, OlasunkanmiA Shittu, PeterO Ajiboye, HannahO Olawumi, OlusholaA Adegunloye, Charles Nwabuisi, DaudaSulyman Annals of African Medicine, 2014 BACKGROUND Mentally ill persons are vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections including hepatitis B and C because of their high level risky behaviors. This study is aimed at establishing the sero-prevalence of hepatitis B and C among the mentally ill individuals (MII) attending psychiatric clinic of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Nigeria since it has not been documented. METHODS A total of 350 MII were recruited. HBsAg testing was by immunoassay test strip (Grand Medical Diagnostic R USA) while hepatitis C was tested by commercially prepared kits from ACON, R USA. Healthy adults who presented as donors in the blood bank of the hospital were used as controls. RESULTS A total of 700 participants including 350 MII and 350 blood donors (BDs) were recruited for the study. The mean ages of MII and control participants were 36.5 ± 12.3 and 31.4 ± 8.3, respectively.The sero-prevalence of hepatitis B and C among patients with mental illness was 10.0 and 12.6%, respectively, as compared to 10.9% and 1.1% of the blood donors. There was a significant difference in the prevalence of HCV among mentally ill when compared with the blood donors (P = 0.001, χ2 = 33.97; OR (CI) =12.44 (5.33-29.03). CONCLUSION Mentally ill patients attending UITH were significantly infected with hepatitis C virus. There is need for interventional measures to reduce the prevalence of hepatitis C among the mentally ill population such as health education and early screening of mentally ill in our setting.
Risk factors and sero-prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen among blood donors in university of Ilorin teaching hospital, Ilorin, Nigeria East African Medical Journal, 2014
