DR Maruf Mustapha, a Psychiatric Resident Doctor has called for training of journalists on reporting mental health issues.

Mustapha, who works with the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos.

He said that journalists had a huge role to play in the campaign against stigmatisation of persons with mental illness.

According to him, there is a knowledge gap on mental health reporting especially among online reporters.

“I carried out a survey in 2016 on the knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of Nigerian journalists on mental health reportage.

“The results were not encouraging; I feel we need an intervention by carrying out training of journalists in this area.

“We know that the media plays a significant role in informing, educating and promoting social issues, especially mental health issues, where stigma is one major challenge we face,’’ he told NAN.

The doctor said that the training would be aimed at achieving short-term and long-term reportage  of mental health issues.
Mustapha said that on the short-term, the aim would be to directly influence journalists’ reportage to reduce stigma.

“Issues of suicide where sensational reporting always leads to repeat or `copy cat` suicides would be addressed.

“In the long term, we aim sustainable a situation where Nigerian journalists, including bloggers, are aware of mental health issues and how to properly report them.

“We also need to work with the Nigerian Institute of Journalism to create a curriculum, because we saw gaps in the knowledge.

“We want to create a curriculum where undergraduates are trained on issues relating to mental health and journalism,’’ he said. – NAN

– Oct 30, 2017 @ 15:27 GMT |