Correction to: Religion and health: exploration of attitudes and health perceptions of faith healing users in urban Ghana.

It was highlighted that the original article [1] contained a typesetting error in the name of Razak M. Gyasi. This was incorrectly captured as Razak M. Gyasi Mohammed in the original article which has since been updated.

Religion and Health: exploration of attitudes and health perceptions of faith healing users in urban Ghana.

BACKGROUND: The main aim of the study was to explore the attitudes and health perceptions of faith healing users in Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana. This has become necessary because faith healing practice is an important area but remains neglected in the health care literature. In an age when biowestern medicine is touted as the cure for most diseases, understanding how and why individuals seek alternative treatment, specifically faith healing modalities may help to develop more effective health care interventions. METHODS: We employed exploratory study design of purely qualitative research approach involving 40 conveniently selected participants from four different purposively selected faith healing centres to get a maximum variation of experiences and opinions on the time of consultation, perceived effectiveness and challenges of faith healing practices in Ghana. In-depth interviews were conducted from 10th June to 30th July, 2017. Data were thematically analysed and presented based on the a posteriori inductive reduction approach. RESULTS: The main findings were that faith healers served as the first port of call for disease curing and prevention for most users. Consumers of faith healing perceived their health status to be good due to the perceived effectiveness of faith healing for curing of health problems. However, users faced challenges such as stigmatisation and victimisation in seeking health care. CONCLUSION: This study has provided the first baseline evidence in this important area of inquiry that has been neglected in the scholarly discourse in Ghana. By implication, users' positive attitudes and perceptions toward faith healing call for integration policies that allow formal medical services to have open idea to faith healing practices in Ghana.

Sociocultural hegemony, gendered identity, and use of traditional and complementary medicine in Ghana.

This study investigated gender differences in the use of traditional and complementary medicine (TCM) in Ghana. Using an interviewer-administered questionnaire, we collected data from March to June 2013 from 324 randomly sampled adults in the Ashanti region. The prevalence of TCM use in the prior 12 months was 86 percent. Females constituted the majority (61 percent) of TCM users. Female TCM users were more likely than male users to have had only a basic education, been traders (p Ë‚ .0001), and have health insurance (p Ë‚ .05). Using multiple logistic regression, TCM use was associated with urban residence for females (odds ratio [OR] = 7.82; 95 percent confidence interval [CI]: 1.28-47.83) but negatively related for males (OR = 0.032; 95 percent CI: 0.002-0.63). Being self-employed was associated with TCM use among males (OR = 7.62; 95 percent CI: 1.22-47.60), while females' TCM use was associated with higher income (OR = 3.72; 95 percent CI: 1.21-11.48) and perceived efficacy of TCM (OR = 5.60; 95 percent CI: 1.78-17.64). The African sociocultural structure vests household decision-making power in men but apparently not regarding TCM use, and the factors associated with TCM use largely differed by gender. These findings provide ingredients for effective health policy planning and evaluation. Adoption and modernization of TCM should apply a gendered lens.

Does spatial location matter? Traditional therapy utilisation among the general population in a Ghanaian rural and urban setting.

Despite the recognition for rising consumption rate of traditional medicine (TRM) in health and spatio-medical literature in the global scale, the impact of location in traditional therapy use has been explored least in Ghana. This paper analysed the role of spatial variation in TRM use in Kumasi Metropolis and Sekyere South District of Ashanti Region, Ghana. A retrospective cross-sectional and place-based survey was conducted in a representative sample (N=324) selected through systematic random sampling technique. Structured interviewer-administered questionnaires were espoused as the main research instruments. Data were analysed with Pearson's Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests from the Predictive Analytics Software (PASW) version 17.0. The study found that over 86% reported TRM use. Whilst majority (59.1%) of the respondents had used TRM two or more times within the last 12 months, biologically-based therapies and energy healing were common forms of TRM accessed. Although, the use of TRM did not vary (p>0.05), knowledge about TRM, modalities of TRM and the sources of TRM differed significantly across geographically demarcated rural and urban splits (p<0.005). The study advances our understanding of the spatial dimensions as regards TRM utilisation.