Correlates of traditional medicine utilization among school-going adolescents and young adults with mental disorders in central and eastern Uganda: a cross-sectional survey

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INTRODUCTION: Mental disorders among adolescents and young adults (AYA) are a serious public health concern, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Despite the growing impact, access to conventional mental healthcare remains limited, leading to high traditional medicine (TM) reliance. However, correlates of TM utilization by AYA with mental health challenges remain underexplored in academic literature. In this study, we investigated the correlates of TM utilization among students with self-reported mental disorders in central and eastern Uganda. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, we analyzed secondary data from a subsample of 302 students with self-reported history of a mental health disorder out of a sample of 1970 who completed the survey. In the primary study, stratified random sampling was used to select schools, and participants were selected proportionally. We used modified Poisson regression to examine the factors independently associated with TM use including demographic characteristics and the presence of emotional or behavioral disorders. Statistical significance was set at a p-value of less than 0.05. RESULTS: Most participants were female (53.31%) and aged between 15 and18 years (71.6%). The majority of the participants had completed ordinary level of secondary education (92.54%), from the Central region (74.5%) and attended schools in urban areas (54.04%). The median monthly family income was $83.3, with over half earning ≤$100 monthly (58.8%). Nearly half of the participants reported a family history of mental health disorder (49.8%), and a notable percentage had at least one behavioral disorder (25.8%) or emotional disorder (21.2%). The adjusted model suggested that rural school attendees had a 1.3 times higher prevalence of TM utilization [aPR:1.30(1.01-1.68), p = 0.04] compared to urban ones, and those with parents or guardians who completed college/university had a 38% lower prevalence [aPR:0.62 (0.41-0.94), p = 0.025] of TM utilization compared to those with parents or guardians without formal education. CONCLUSION: A large proportion of the students utilized TM, largely influenced by rural residence, and parents' education status. The high prevalence of TM use underscores the need for leveraging TM providers as a link to timely biomedical healthcare utilization and improving access to comprehensive treatment for mental health disorders with a focus on socio-economic disparities.

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