Child and Adolescent Mental Health Research Group

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Research Group

 

Focus: The Child and Adolescent Mental Health research group focuses on researches bordering mainly on various aspects of child and adolescent mental health issues, including mental retardation, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), autism spectrum disorders, child sexual abuse, childhood obesity, effects of  attachment on child development, child abuse and neglect, families and the developmentally disabled adolescent, adolescents and internet addiction which is a newly emerging social and mental health issue among adolescents, and has attracted much attention around the world; prevalence of depression and suicide among adolescents, psychosocial impacts of conflicts, terrorism and insurgency among children and adolescents and youths in general , validation of psychometric instruments used for the assessment of child and adolescent mental health issues with a view to expanding their reliability and validity within the Nigerian context. These instruments include those that assess cognitive functions, executive functions, intelligence, verbal fluency, personality, attention deficit/hyperactivity, autism spectrum disorders, and developmental delays, role of adverse home and school environment on child and adolescent mental health etc.

 

Current research projects: 

  • Care Giver Burden and Life Satisfaction among Adolescent Caregivers of Cancer Patients Attending the Oncology Outpatient Clinic of a Nigerian University Teaching Hospital.
  • Burn Out and Psychological Distress among adolescent Caregivers of Dementia Patients Attending the Out Patient Geriatric Clinics of Two Nigerian Tertiary Health Institutions.

 

Name of Coordinator:  Okwaraji Friday Esonwanne

UNN email of the coordinator: friday.okwaraji@unn.edu.ng

Phone number of the coordinator: 08030812626.

UNN email address of RG:

UNN webpage of RG:

 

Members:

  • OKWARAJI FRIDAY E. Senior Lecturer/Clinical Psychologist, Department of Psychological medicine-(email: okwaraji@unn.edu.ng); Coordinator.
  • EKE OKECHUKWU HOPE; Clinical Psychologist/Head, Clinical psychology unit, Medical center, University of Nigeria, Nsukka,(hope.eke@unn.edu.ng) Member.
  • OKORIE NKEMAKOLAM AUGUSTINE- (augustine.okorie@unn.edu.ng), Clinical Psychologist, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, UNN. Member.

 

10 key publications:

  • Okwaraji FE and Godwin C. Onyebueke (2021). A Cross Sectional Study on the Mental Health Impacts of Covid-19 Pandemic in a Sample of Nigerian Urban Dwellers. International Neuropsychiatric Disease Journal 15(4): 28-36. DOI: 10.9734/INDJ/2021/v15i430161
  • Okwaraji FE et al (2020). Gender, Age, Marital Status and Quality of Life in a Sample of HIV Clinic Attendees in a Nigerian Tertiary Health Institution. Journal of Medical Research 2020, 6(5):230-232,
  • Godwin C. Onyebueke, Friday E. Okwaraji and Augustine O. Obumneme (2020). Assessment of Quality of life and Depression among PLWHA receiving highly active anti-retroviral therapy at two tertiary heath institutions in Enugu, South East Nigeria. The Journal of Medical Research 2020; 6(1): 20-24
  • Okwaraji FE et al (2019) Assessment of depression and self esteem among outpatient HIV clinic attendees in a Nigerian tertiary health institution.  The Journal of Medical Research 2019; 5(2): 61-64
  • Okwaraji, F.E et al (2018). Loneliness, Life Satisfaction and Psychological Distress among Out-Of -School Adolescents in a Nigerian Urban City. Psychology, Health and Medicine; DOI: 10. (https://midwaymoving.com/) 1080/13548506.2018.1476726.
  • Okwaraji, E et al (2018) Locus of Control, Self Esteem and Depression in a Sample of School Going Adolescents in Two Nigerian Rural Communities.  The Journal of Medical Research. (Xanax) 4(2): 106-110. DOI: 10.31254/jmr.2018.4211
  • Callista U. Nduanya et al (2018) A cross sectional study on internet addiction, locus of control and psychological distress in a sample of Nigerian undergraduates. The Journal of Medical Research. 4(3): 146-150. Doi: 10.31254/jmr 2018-4308
  • Godwin C. Onyebueke et al (2018) Assessing the psychological consequences of communal conflicts among the inhabitants of two conflict-affected communities in South East Nigeria. The Journal of Medical Research. 4(4): JMR-2018-4339
  • Okwaraji, F.E et al (2017). Psychosocial Impacts of Communal Conflicts in a Sample of Secondary School Youths from Two Conflict Communities in South East Nigeria. Psychology, Health and Medicine. Vol.22(5): 588-595. Doi:1080/13548506.2016.1192655.

Okwaraji, F.E, Nduanya C.U, Okorie,A.N and Okechukwu, H.E (2017). Personality traits, happiness and life satisfaction, in a sample of Nigerian adolescents.  The Journal of Medical Research, 3(6): 284-289. DOI: 10.22271/23957565.2017.v3.i6.009