Pathways to mental health treatment in Ghana: Challenging biomedical methods from herbal- and faith-healing perspectives.

BACKGROUND: The clinical pathways for treating mental illness have received global attention. Several empirical studies have been undertaken on treatment pathways in Ghana. No study, however, has systematically reviewed the literature related to the pathways of mental health treatment in Ghana. AIM: This article aims to identify the pathways used to treat mental illnesses; examine the evidence about the possibility of collaboration between biomedical, faith and traditional healing pathways; and draw attention to the barriers hindering such collaboration. METHODS: A search of the published literature was conducted using Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL (EBSCO), Web of Science and Scopus databases. The search was limited to the articles that were published in English and released between 2000 and June 2018. The review synthesises both qualitative and quantitative data. RESULTS: The findings showed that mental illnesses in Ghana are treated using a mixture of biomedical and faith-based and traditional healing services. Faith and traditional healing pathways are typically used as a preliminary source of cultural assessment before seeking biomedical treatment. There is an increasing desire for collaboration between biomedical, faith and traditional healing pathways. However, several individual factors (attitude or stigma, the perceived efficacy of treatment and differences in the treatment process) and health system factors (a lack of policy and regulation, a limited number of biomedical service providers, limited financial support and geographical isolation of services) jointly contribute to barriers precluding establishing such collaboration. CONCLUSION: This review recommends that policies, regulations, educational support and financial incentives should be developed to facilitate collaboration between biomedical, faith and traditional healing service provision.

Providing culturally congruent care for Saudi patients and their families.

This article aims to increase an awareness of caring for Saudi families by non-Saudi nurses to improve their understanding of culturally competent care from a Saudi perspective. Healthcare providers have a duty of a care to deliver holistic and culturally specific health care to their patients. As a consequence of 'duty of care' obligations, healthcare providers must facilitate culturally congruent care for patients of diverse cultural backgrounds. For the Saudi family considerable cultural clashes may arise when Saudi patients are hospitalized and receive care from healthcare professionals who do not understand Islamic principles and Saudi cultural beliefs and values. The healthcare workforce in Saudi Arabia is a unique multicultural workforce that is mix of Saudi and significant other nationalities. Saudi nurses for example represent only 36.3% of the workforce in the different health sectors. Whilst the different ethnic and cultural background expatriate nurses represent 63.7% (Ministry of Health, 2010). This article also could increase the awareness of healthcare professionals caring for Arab and Muslims patients in another context in the world.

The impact of group music therapy on depression and cognition in elderly persons with dementia: a randomized controlled study.

OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to determine the effectiveness of group music therapy for improving depression and delaying the deterioration of cognitive functions in elderly persons with dementia. METHOD: The study had a prospective, parallel-group design with permuted-block randomization. Older persons with dementia (N = 104) were randomly assigned to the experimental or control group. The experimental group received 12 sessions of group music therapy (two 30-min sessions per week for 6 weeks), and the control group received usual care. Data were collected 4 times: (1) 1 week before the intervention, (2) the 6th session of the intervention, (3) the 12th session of the intervention, and (4) 1 month after the final session. RESULTS: Group music therapy reduced depression in persons with dementia. Improvements in depression occurred immediately after music therapy and were apparent throughout the course of therapy. The cortisol level did not significantly decrease after the group music therapy. Cognitive function significantly improved slightly at the 6th session, the 12th session, and 1 month after the sessions ended; in particular, short-term recall function improved. The group music therapy intervention had the greatest impact in subjects with mild and moderate dementia. CONCLUSION: The group music intervention is a noninvasive and inexpensive therapy that appeared to reduce elders' depression. It also delayed the deterioration of cognitive functions, particularly short-term recall function. Group music therapy may be an appropriate intervention among elderly persons with mild and moderate dementia.

Efficacy of progressive muscle relaxation training in reducing anxiety in patients with acute schizophrenia.

AIM AND OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to examine the efficacy of progressive muscle relaxation training on anxiety in patients with acute schizophrenia. BACKGROUND: Many empirical studies have found progressive muscle relaxation training beneficial in reducing the psychological effects of anxiety. Progressive muscle relaxation training is also effective in reducing the distress symptoms associated with the symptomatology of schizophrenia. DESIGN: An experimental randomised controlled trial using repeated measures. METHOD: The study was designed to examine the effects of progressive muscle relaxation training on patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. Study participants were acute psychiatric inpatients in Taiwan. Eighteen patients were block randomised and then assigned to an experimental or control group. The experimental group received progressive muscle relaxation training and the control group received a placebo intervention. Results from the Beck anxiety inventory were compared between groups as a pretest before intervention, on day 11 of intervention and one week post-test after the intervention was completed. Changes in finger temperature were measured throughout the experiment. RESULTS: The degree of anxiety improvement was significantly higher in the progressive muscle relaxation training group than in the control group after progressive muscle relaxation training intervention (p < 0.0001) and at follow-up (p = 0.0446; the mean BAI score fell from 16.4 pretest to -5.8 post-test. After adjusting for the change in patient finger temperature, the mean change in temperature was significantly different between the two patient groups. The average body temperature increased significantly after applying the progressive muscle relaxation training to patients with schizophrenia. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that progressive muscle relaxation training can effectively alleviate anxiety in patients with schizophrenia. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Progressive muscle relaxation training is potentially an effective nursing intervention in the reduction of anxiety in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, depending on the quality of their mental status at the time of intervention. Progressive muscle relaxation training is a useful intervention as it is proven to reduce anxiety levels across a spectrum of psychiatric disorders.