Ghanaian traditional and faith healers' explanatory models of intellectual disability.

BACKGROUND: The use of traditional/alternative medicine for health care in Africa has been examined for various conditions. However, there is limited research about traditional/alternative health care for intellectual disability. The present authors explored the explanatory models (EMs) of intellectual disability held by traditional/faith healers in Ghana. METHODS: Using a case vignette, the present authors conducted semi-structured interviews with 36 traditional/faith healers in Accra, Ghana. Using the EMs of illness framework as a guide, participants were asked questions to examine their beliefs about the nature, causes, course and recommended treatment of intellectual disability. RESULTS: The healers' causal explanations included maternal negligence during pregnancy and spiritual factors. They also believed that intellectual disability was a congenital, lifelong condition which could not be cured. CONCLUSIONS: Unlike other conditions which traditional healers claimed to cure, participants admitted that intellectual disability was not curable. The present authors suggest that the findings highlight opportunities that exist for collaboration between biomedicine and traditional medicine.

Muslim Traditional Healers in Accra, Ghana: Beliefs About and Treatment of Mental Disorders.

Traditional and faith healing is a common practice in many low- and middle-income countries due to resource limitations and belief systems, particularly for disorders such as mental disorders. We report on the beliefs about mental illness from the perspective of one category of alternative healers in Ghana-the Muslim faith healers. We also report on their methods of diagnoses and treatment for mental disorders. Results show that the healers' beliefs about mental illness revolved around the notion of Jinn as causing most mental illness. Emerging themes are discussed with reference to their potential implications for patients' care and health-seeking behaviour.

Ghanaian traditional and faith healers' explanatory models for epilepsy.

Epilepsy is the most common neurological condition in sub-Saharan Africa. A significant number of people with epilepsy in low- and middle-income countries do not receive formal biomedical care. They utilize the services of various traditional and alternative medicine practitioners. However, there is relatively little information about the beliefs and methods of alternative healthcare providers about epilepsy in many African countries. Using explanatory models of illness framework, we interviewed thirty-six traditional and faith healers in Ghana on their beliefs and perceptions about epilepsy, as well as how they would treat epilepsy. The healers' beliefs about the nature of epilepsy were reflected in the labels they assigned to the condition. These indicated a belief in the influence of the moon in epilepsy. Furthermore, the participants held multiple, simultaneous explanatory models of causes for epilepsy, including biological, social, and supernatural causes. Epilepsy was also considered to have serious social implications for patients, especially for women. Finally, their treatment methods involved a range of herbal and spiritual practices. These varied based on the identified cause of the condition, as well as the orientation of the healer. We discuss these findings with reference to their implications for potential collaboration between biomedical and alternative healthcare systems.

Challenges in the use of the mental health information system in a resource-limited setting: lessons from Ghana.

BACKGROUND: One of the most successful modes of record-keeping and data collection is the use of health management information systems, where patient information and management plans are uniformly entered into a database to streamline the information and for ease of further patient management. For mental healthcare, a Mental Health Information System (MHIS) has been found most successful since a properly established and operational MHIS is helpful for developing equitable and appropriate mental health care systems. Until 2010, the system of keeping patient records and information in the Accra Psychiatric Hospital of Ghana was old and outdated. In light of this and other factors, a complete reforming of the mental health information systems in three psychiatric hospitals in Ghana was undertaken in 2010. Four years after its implementation, we explored user experiences with the new system, and report here the challenges that were identified with use of the new MHIS. METHODS: Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine clinical and administrative staff of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital to examine their experiences with the new MHIS. Participants in the study were in three categories: clinical staff, administrator, and records clerk. Participants' knowledge of the system and its use, as well as the challenges they had experienced in its use were explored using an interpretative phenomenological approach. RESULTS: The data suggest that optimal use of the current MHIS had faced significant implementation challenges in a number of areas. Central challenges reported by users included increased workload, poor staff involvement and training, and absence of logistic support to keep the system running. CONCLUSIONS: Setting up a new system does not guarantee its success. As important as it is to have a mental health information system, its usefulness is largely dependent on proper implementation and maintenance. Further, the system can facilitate policy transformation only when the place of mental health in district, regional and national health discourse improves.

Their Hands Have Lost Their Bones: Exploring Cultural Scripts in Two West African Affect Lexica.

Previous research has indicated the importance of embodiment in West African emotion lexica. The current study aims to explore the pervasiveness of this cultural script through the analysis of the emotional lexica of two West African languages (Ga and Ewe) from Southern Ghana that have been featured minimally in previous emotion research. The analysis indicated that embodiment was an important cultural script in both affective lexica. However, interpersonal representations of emotions were also present. Further, emotion words in the two languages differed in the more specific loci of emotions.

'We are all working toward one goal. We want people to become well': A visual exploration of what promotes successful collaboration between community mental health workers and healers in Ghana.

The practices of traditional and faith-based healers in low- and middle-income countries in Africa and elsewhere have come under intense scrutiny in recent years owing to allegations of human rights abuses. To mitigate these, there have been calls to develop collaborations between healers and formal health services to optimise available mental health interventions in poorly resourced contexts. For various reasons, attempts to establish such partnerships in a sustainable manner in different countries have not always been successful. In this article, we present findings from the Together for Mental Health visual research project to showcase examples of healer-health worker collaborations in Ghana that have been largely successful and discuss the barriers and facilitators to establishing these partnerships. Data reported in this article were collected using visual ethnography and filmed individual interviews with eight community mental health workers, six traditional and faith-based healers and two local philanthropists in the Bono East Region. The findings suggest that successful collaborations were built through mutually respectful interpersonal relationships, support from the health system and access to community resources. Although these facilitated collaboration, resource constraints, distrust and ethical dilemmas had to be overcome to build stronger partnerships. These findings highlight the importance of dedicated institutional and logistic support for ensuring the successful integration of the different health systems in pluralistic settings.

Inverting the deficit model in global mental health: An examination of strengths and assets of community mental health care in Ghana, India, Occupied Palestinian territories, and South Africa.

Global mental health [GMH] scholarship and practice has typically focused on the unmet needs and barriers to mental health in communities, developing biomedical and psychosocial interventions for integration into formal health care platforms in response. In this article, we analyse four diverse settings to disrupt the emphasises on health system weaknesses, treatment gaps and barriers which can perpetuate harmful hierarchies and colonial and medical assumptions, or a 'deficit model'. We draw on the experiential knowledge of community mental health practitioners and researchers working in Ghana, India, the Occupied Palestinian Territory and South Africa to describe key assets existing in 'informal' community mental health care systems and how these are shaped by socio-political contexts. These qualitative case studies emerged from an online mutual learning process convened between 39 academic and community-based collaborators working in 24 countries who interrogated key tenets to inform a social paradigm for global mental health. Bringing together diverse expertise gained from professional practice and research, our sub-group explored the role of Community Mental Health Systems in GMH through comparative country case studies describing the features of community care beyond the health and social care system. We found that the socio-political health determinants of global economic structures in all four countries exert significant influence on local community health systems. We identified that key assets across sites included: family and community care, and support from non-profit organisations and religious and faith-based organisations. Strengthening community assets may promote reciprocal relationships between the formal and informal sectors, providing resources for support and training for communities while communities collaborate in the design and delivery of interventions rooted in localised expertise. This paper highlights the value of informal care, the unique social structures of each local context, and resources within local communities as key existing assets for mental health.

The hermeneutics of recovery: Facilitating dialogue between African and Western mental health frameworks.

The widespread use of faith-based and traditional healing for mental disorders within African contexts is well known. However, normative responses tend to fall within two camps: on one hand, those oriented towards the biomedical model of psychiatry stress the abuses and superstition of such healing, whilst critics adopting a more 'local' perspective have fundamentally challenged the universalist claims of biomedical diagnostic categories and psychiatric treatments. What seemingly emerges is a dichotomy between those who endorse more 'universalist' or 'relativist' approaches as an analytical lens to the challenges of the diverse healing strands within African contexts. In this article, we draw upon the resources of philosophy and existing empirical work to challenge the notion that constructive dialogue cannot be had between seemingly incommensurable healing practices in global mental health. First, we suggest the need for much-needed conceptual clarity to explore the hermeneutics of meaning, practice, and understanding, in order to forge constructive normative pathways of dialogue between seemingly incommensurable values and conceptual schemas around mental disorder and healing. Second, we contextualise the complex motives to emphasise difference amongst health practitioners within a competitive healing economy. Finally, we appeal to the notion of recovery as discovery as a fruitful conceptual framework which incorporates dialogue, comparative evaluation, and cross-cultural enrichment across divergent conceptualisations of mental health.

Exploring the Use of Antibiotics for Dental Patients in a Middle-Income Country: Interviews with Clinicians in Two Ghanaian Hospitals.

BACKGROUND: Antimicrobial resistance is a global problem driven by the overuse of antibiotics. Dentists are responsible for about 10% of antibiotics usage across healthcare worldwide. Factors influencing dental antibiotic prescribing are numerous, with some differences in low- and middle-income countries compared with high-income countries. This study aimed to explore the antibiotic prescribing behaviour and knowledge of teams treating dental patients in two Ghanaian hospitals. METHODS: Qualitative interviews were undertaken with dentists, pharmacists, and other healthcare team members at two hospitals in urban and rural locations. Thematic and behaviour analyses using the Actor, Action, Context, Target, Time framework were undertaken. RESULTS: Knowledge about 'antimicrobial resistance and antibiotic stewardship' and 'people and places' were identified themes. Influences on dental prescribing decisions related to the organisational context (such as the hierarchical influence of colleagues and availability of specific antibiotics in the hospital setting), clinical issues (such as therapeutic versus prophylactic indications and availability of sterile dental instruments), and patient issues such as hygiene in the home environment, delays in seeking professional help, ability to access antibiotics in the community without a prescription and patient's ability to pay for the complete prescription. CONCLUSIONS: This work provides new evidence on behavioural factors influencing dental antibiotic prescribing, including resource constraints which affect the availability of certain antibiotics and diagnostic tests. Further research is required to fully understand their influence and inform the development of new approaches to optimising antibiotic use by dentists in Ghana and potentially other low- and middle-income countries.

Indigenous and faith healing for mental health in Ghana: An examination of the literature on reported beliefs, practices and use of alternative mental health care in Ghana.

BACKGROUND: For many people in African countries, various forms of health care are utilised for the treatment of illness. This pluralistic nature of health seeking includes the use of indigenous, faith and allopathic medicines for care. AIM: In this article, our aim was to gain insight into the existing knowledge on indigenous and faith healing in Ghana, with a particular focus on mental health care. We first examine the reported mental health beliefs and practices of Ghanaian alternative healers. Following this, we look at the use and purported preference for non-biomedical mental health care by patients. METHODS: Relevant literature was examined to explore the beliefs, practices and use of non-biomedical mental health care systems in GhanaResults: Evidence for the use and preference for non-biomedical mental health care is largely anecdotal. Similarly, the mental health beliefs of alternative healers have been documented in various small-scale studies. However, such information is important if mental health services in Ghana are to be improved. CONCLUSION: Integration of the different healthcare systems must be built on knowledge of beliefs and methods. A clearer understanding of the work of non-biomedical healers is important if appropriate recommendations are to be made for collaboration between biomedical and non-biomedical systems in Ghana.

Indigenous and faith healing in Ghana: A brief examination of the formalising process and collaborative efforts with the biomedical health system.

BACKGROUND: Health seeking in many African countries typically involves making use of multiple healing systems, including indigenous and faith systems, as well as biomedical healthcare systems. These different systems have co-existed for many years in Africa, including in Ghana. AIM: In this article, we examine the formalising processes that non-biomedical healthcare in Ghana has undergone in postcolonial times. We first present a brief historical analysis of the process of organising indigenous medical systems into formal bodies. We then conclude by exploring collaborative efforts that have been undertaken between biomedical and non-biomedical health systems in Ghana. METHOD: A historical analysis of formalised indigenous healing systems in Ghana was done through an examination of relevant literature. RESULTS: Formal groups of indigenous healers in Ghana who are organised into specific categories have undergone various transformations over the years. Evidence also exists of collaborative programmes developed with traditional healers in Ghana, although these have been largely for primary health partnerships. With regard to mental health collaborations, attempts at integration have been generally unsuccessful, with various factors identified as hindering successful partnerships. CONCLUSION: Indigenous healing is an important component of healthcare in Ghana. Collaboration between the different healthcare systems can be strengthened through accurate understandings of how key stakeholders are situated (and indeed situate themselves) in the conversation.

Traditional herbalists' methods of treating mental disorders in Ghana.

The use of traditional medicine for the treatment of various disorders is not a new practice. Indeed, various categories of traditional healers form a large part of the healthcare workforce in many low- and middle-income countries, and given the paucity of mental health professionals in these countries, traditional and complementary medicine practitioners are utilised even more so for mental disorders. In Ghana, efforts have been made to formalise and standardise the work of traditional medicine practitioners. This goal is still mostly unmet, partly due to the lack of scientific knowledge of their beliefs, methods, and practices in mental healthcare. Very few studies have documented this knowledge. In this article, we report on some of the methods that are used by traditional Ghanaian herbalists in treating mental disorders. Eight herbalists working within the Greater Accra Region, who specialised in mental health, were interviewed through individual semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis showed that traditional herbalists' work in treating mental disorders revolved around four key themes: the method of diagnosis; the treatment methods used; the mode of administering the treatment; and the purpose of the specific treatment. These themes are discussed with reference to their potential implications for patients' care and outcomes.

'That is how the real mad people behave': Beliefs about and treatment of mental disorders by traditional medicine-men in Accra, Ghana.

BACKGROUND: Traditional healing methods are considered central to mental health care in low-income countries such as Ghana, because they are perceived to be more easily accessible, more affordable and generally ascribe similar causal beliefs to those of the patients. However, not much is known about the work of traditional healers largely because their methods are shrouded in mysticism and secrecy. There is a need to understand the ideology and beliefs of traditional healers surrounding mental disorders, including knowledge about their practices in mental health care. AIMS: In this article, we discuss the causal beliefs and treatment methods of traditional medicine-men from Accra, Ghana. We also describe their diagnostic and treatment methods for mental disorders. METHODS: Eight medicine-men, indigenous to the Greater Accra Region, were interviewed through individual semi-structured interviews. The data were analysed through thematic analysis. RESULTS: The medicine-men's beliefs about mental illness were dominated by supernatural ideas. Mental illness was also seen as a form of punishment or resulting from envy, and there was a strong reliance on spiritual direction from the gods for diagnosis and treatment. CONCLUSION: These themes are discussed with emphasis on their potential implications for patients, as well as for collaborative efforts.

Implications of healing power and positioning for collaboration between formal mental health services and traditional/alternative medicine: the case of Ghana.

BACKGROUND: Many current debates about global mental health have increasingly called for collaboration between biomedical and traditional medical health systems. Despite these calls, not much has been written about the variables that would influence such collaboration. To a large extent, collaboration dialogues have considered biomedicine on the one hand, and a wide range of traditional and faith-based treatments on the other hand. However, this dualistic bifurcation does not reflect the plurality of healing systems in operation in many contexts, and the diverse investments that different non-biomedical healing approaches may have in their own power to heal. OBJECTIVE: We set out to explore the diversity of different healers' perceptions of power, and the relationship between that power and the perceived power of biomedical approaches. METHODS: Through a qualitative design, and using the case of medical pluralism in urban Ghana as an example, we conducted interviews among different categories of traditional and alternative medicine (TAM) practitioners living and/or working in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. RESULTS: Through thematic analyses, differences in the notions about collaboration between the different categories of healers were identified. Their perceptions of whether collaboration would be beneficial seemed, from this study, to co-occur with their perceptions of their own power. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that an important way to move debates forward about collaboration amongst different sectors is to examine the notions of power and positioning of different categories of TAM healers in relation to biomedicine, and the attendant implications of those notions for integrative mental healthcare.

'The threads in his mind have torn': conceptualization and treatment of mental disorders by neo-prophetic Christian healers in Accra, Ghana.

BACKGROUND: In many low- and middle-income countries, faith healing is used alongside biomedical treatment for many health problems including mental disorders. Further, Christianity in Africa has seen much transformation in recent decades with the growth of charismatic or neo-prophetic churches whose doctrines include healing, miracles and prophecies. As such, many charismatic pastors have been engaged in faith healing for many years. Such faith healers form a significant portion of the mental health workforce in these countries, partly due to the limited number of biomedically trained professionals. In this study, we sought to examine the beliefs of charismatic/neo-Pentecostal faith healers about mental disorders, as well as to examine the treatments that they employed to treat such disorders. METHODS: We interviewed neo-prophetic pastors who undertook faith healing, and examined their work relating to mental disorders. Ten pastors from eight churches in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. RESULTS: The data suggest that the pastors' conceptualization of mental illness was generally limited to psychotic disorders. Their beliefs about causation were predominantly supernatural in nature although they acknowledged that drug misuse and road traffic accidents were also potential causes. The pastors' expectations of healing also showed different perceptions of illness chronicity. Their diagnostic and treatment methods revolved around using prayer, prayer aids such as oils and holy water, as well as spiritual counselling for patients and their caregivers. However, they were not opposed to referring patients to hospitals when deemed necessary. CONCLUSION: We discuss the above results with emphasis on their implications for collaboration between biomedical and alternative healing systems in Ghana. In particular, we advocate a mutual understanding of illness perspectives between biomedical practitioners and faith healers as an important component for integrating different health systems in Ghana.