• Davy Vancampfort, Andrew Watkins, Philip B Ward, Michel Probst, Marc De Hert, Tine Van Damme, and James Mugisha.
• KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Leuven, Belgium.
• Afr Health Sci. 2019 Sep 1; 19 (3): 2546-2554.

BackgroundPeople with mental illness are at an increased risk for developing cardio-metabolic disorders. Routine screening following pharmacotherapy is however unacceptably low in sub-Saharan African countries with less than 1% adequately screened. It is unknown whether this is due to a lack of adequate competences.ObjectivesThe aim of this pilot study was to assess the barriers, attitudes, confidence, and knowledge of nurses regarding metabolic health, prevention and treatment in Uganda.MethodsTwenty-eight nurses (39% female, 30.9±6.9 years) completed the Metabolic - Barriers, Confidence, Attitudes and Knowledge Questionnaire and the physical activity prescription rate item of the Exercise in Mental Illness Questionnaire.ResultsMore than 75% had a positive attitude towards metabolic screening and intervention and more than 50% were confident in providing smoking cessation advice, and physical activity and nutritional counseling. However, 57% stated that their heavy workload prevented them from doing health screening and promotion activities. There was a negative correlation (ρ=-0.54, P=0.003) between the frequency of physical activity prescription and the perception of the inability of patients to change.ConclusionThe present findings suggest that nurses are generally supportive of metabolic health screening and intervention but their high workload prevents them from implementing metabolic health interventions.© 2019 Vancampfort et al.

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