摘要：There is no data on the mental health of trainee teachers in Africa. We present the first data on the mental health of this student group and associations with socio-demographic factors, family function and religious practice in Nigeria.We conducted a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 220 randomly selected trainee-teachers in second, third and fourth years of training at Rivers State College of Education Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The students’ mental health was assessed with the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), which has good reliability in Nigeria. The response rate was 73%.Majority of the respondents (56%) were female and the sample ranged in age from 18-37 years [Mean 24.3(SD 2.9) years]. Using a cut-off of 2 and above for the GHQ-12, 36% of the students were classified as experiencing psychological distress. Multiple regression identified significant predictors of GHQ scores as frequency of attending religious activities (higher attendance associated with lower GHQ scores) and year-of-study (students in Year 3 scored highest compared with Years 2 and 4).To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore the mental health of trainee-teachers in Africa. The increased psychological distress among students in Year 3 is likely to be due to increased work load at this stage of their training. It is therefore important to consider targeting available pastoral support for students at this stage. Religious practice could provide helpful positive coping strategy among students in this cohort.
