A Study of Stigma, Discrimination and Reintegration of Mentally Ill Persons in Ghana (original) (raw)
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Stigma, Discrimination, and Social Exclusion of the Mentally Ill: the Case of Ghana
Journal of Human Rights and Social Work
The authors examine treatment and society's perception of mental illness through the lenses of stigma, discrimination and social exclusion, and human rights. We argue that being diagnosed with mental illness in a developing country has a significant impact on virtually every area of one's life. The challenges faced by individuals with mental illness in Ghana are due to the prevailing culture and societal practices that tend to stigmatize, discriminate, and socially exclude these individuals from living normal lives. The lack of resources and political will continue to compound this problem. The paper argues for the importance of embracing individual, cultural and institutional training and change in attitudes, perceptions, and funding of services to address these issues of mental illness.
Background: Mental health is now attracting increased public health attention from health professionals, policy makers and the general population. However, stigma and discrimination usually have enormous negative impact on the patients and their families. This study reports on stigma and discrimination faced by mental health patients and their caregivers in a suburban area of Ghana and the coping strategies used. Method: This is a cross-sectional exploratory study which used both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Two hundred and seventy seven mental health patients were purposively interviewed. Focus group discussions were held with caregivers and in-depth interviews were held with mental health professionals. The quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS and Microsoft Excel ® whilst the qualitative data were coded and manually analyzed thematically. Results: Mental disorder cuts across all age, sex, education, ethnicity, employment, and marital status. More females were stigmatized than males at the work/employment and educational levels. Various forms of stigma were observed at the economic, psychological and social levels, whilst for discrimination it was only observed at the economic and social levels. Caregivers were also stigmatized and discriminated. The coping strategies adopted by the mental patients and their caregivers were also economic, psychological and social in nature. Conclusion: Mental health patients and their families suffer from stigma and discrimination from the individual, family, work, employment, education to the health level. Thus, community level policy on mental health care needs to be developed and implemented. Furthermore mental health education needs to be intensified at the community level.
Perception of Clergymen on the Care and Stigmatization of Persons with Mental Illness in Nigeria
Journal of Education, Society and Behavioural Science
Objectives: This study was designed to investigate clergymen's training, knowledge, perception and experience of mental illness. Methods: The study adopted both quantitative and qualitative study designs conducted among a total of 148 student population of the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary Ogbomoso. The stratified random sampling technique was used for the quantitative approach using the (Community Attitudes towards Mental Illness (CAMI) scale and the socio-demographic questionnaire while purposive sampling of the respondents was used for the qualitative approach. Data collated for the quantitative technique was analyzed using the Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21. Results: The Focused Group Discussions (FGDs) and Key Informant Interviews (KII) respondents believe that all mental illnesses are traceable directly or indirectly to spiritual factors, that certain sociocultural discriminations exist and that the local church is a healing communit...
2024
Background: Stigma is significantly impacted by cultural and contextual value systems. People with mental health conditions frequently have to deal with the condition itself and the associated stigma and discrimination. Contextual understanding is essential to design measures and interventions. Objective: This study aimed to explore the experiences and perceptions of people with mental health conditions, their families and key stakeholders. Method: A qualitative method used to understand mental health-related stigma and its local contexts. Sixteen participants, including service users, caregivers, service providers and health service administrators, were interviewed. Result: People with mental health conditions and their caregivers experienced various forms of stigmatization which is linked to attributions about the causality of the illness, overt manifestations of mental health condition leading to easy identification and functional impairments that adversely affect participation. Social contact, lived experiences sharing and training of service providers are relevant intervention strategy to address stigma. Implication: Stigma and exclusion are prominent in the experiences of people with mental health conditions and their caregivers in this rural Ethiopian setting. Measurement of stigma and the development of interventions should consider how stigma is socially constructed. Antistigma interventions need to be implemented alongside expanded local access to mental healthcare. Impact statement People with mental health conditions (MHCs) face major challenges due to negative stereotypes and prejudice generated by misconceptions about MHCs. While research has gone a long way toward understanding the multiple adverse impacts of MHCs in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), it is just starting to explain the social construct of mental health-related stigma. Contextualization of stigma measures and development of anti-stigma programs in LMICs are still limited. This study offers a valuable perspective on the experience of stigma and the mechanisms underlying the stigmatization of individuals with mental illnesses and key stakeholders. This enables a thorough investigation of the local context, focusing on the viewpoints and understandings of persons who reside and work in the area. That also looked at the stigma associated with mental health issues more broadly than from the perspective of a particular illness or diagnosis. The present study can be effective in targeting the consequences of stigma and understanding the interpretation of this stigma can aid in the development of context-specific anti-stigma interventions in Ethiopia and provides input into the process of assessing the implications and concept of stigma at a cross-national level. These interventions endorse the use of social contact approaches to reduce stigma, which are acceptable as long as they are combined with measures that foster a supportive environment, such as increased availability of mental health services.
2024
Background: Stigma is significantly impacted by cultural and contextual value systems. People with mental health conditions frequently have to deal with the condition itself and the associated stigma and discrimination. Contextual understanding is essential to design measures and interventions. Objective: This study aimed to explore the experiences and perceptions of people with mental health conditions, their families and key stakeholders. Method: A qualitative method used to understand mental health-related stigma and its local contexts. Sixteen participants, including service users, caregivers, service providers and health service administrators, were interviewed. Result: People with mental health conditions and their caregivers experienced various forms of stigmatization which is linked to attributions about the causality of the illness, overt manifestations of mental health condition leading to easy identification and functional impairments that adversely affect participation. Social contact, lived experiences sharing and training of service providers are relevant intervention strategy to address stigma. Implication: Stigma and exclusion are prominent in the experiences of people with mental health conditions and their caregivers in this rural Ethiopian setting. Measurement of stigma and the development of interventions should consider how stigma is socially constructed. Antistigma interventions need to be implemented alongside expanded local access to mental healthcare. Impact statement People with mental health conditions (MHCs) face major challenges due to negative stereotypes and prejudice generated by misconceptions about MHCs. While research has gone a long way toward understanding the multiple adverse impacts of MHCs in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), it is just starting to explain the social construct of mental health-related stigma. Contextualization of stigma measures and development of anti-stigma programs in LMICs are still limited. This study offers a valuable perspective on the experience of stigma and the mechanisms underlying the stigmatization of individuals with mental illnesses and key stakeholders. This enables a thorough investigation of the local context, focusing on the viewpoints and understandings of persons who reside and work in the area. That also looked at the stigma associated with mental health issues more broadly than from the perspective of a particular illness or diagnosis. The present study can be effective in targeting the consequences of stigma and understanding the interpretation of this stigma can aid in the development of context-specific anti-stigma interventions in Ethiopia and provides input into the process of assessing the implications and concept of stigma at a cross-national level. These interventions endorse the use of social contact approaches to reduce stigma, which are acceptable as long as they are combined with measures that foster a supportive environment, such as increased availability of mental health services.
2016
Background Mental illnesses worldwide are accompanied by another pandemic, that of stigma and discrimination. Public understanding about mental illnesses and attitudes towards people with mental illness play a paramount role in the prevention and treatment of mental illness and the rehabilitation of people with mental illness. Objective To assess community attitude and associated factors towards people with mental illness. Methods Community based cross-sectional study was conducted from April 28 to May 28, 2014. Quantitative data were collected through interview from 435 adults selected using simple random sampling. Data were collected using community attitude towards mentally ill (CAMI) tool to assess community attitude towards people with mental illness and associated factors. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to identify predictors of community attitude towards people with mental illness and the level of significance association was determined by beta with 95% con...
Stigma towards mental illness and the mentally ill in a rural community in Kenya
2007
Introduction Stigma is a mark of disgrace or discredit that sets a person aside from others. It is a term of prejudice based on negative stereotyping. It is based on the perception of a difference which is ultimately linked to negative traits. The stigma of severe mental illness exacerbates the patients' burden caused by the illness. It plays a negative role at every stage of the illness from presentation and diagnosis to treatment and outcome. It makes many people reluctant to seek help and less likely to cooperate with treatment and slows recovery. Because of this, The Mental Health act (1989) established The Kenya Board of Mental Health to among other objectives, address mental health related stigma. Objective To obtain information on the current level of knowledge, attitude and practices regarding mental health in the general population in Kenya. This study aims at generating information in this field with special focus on stigma in the general population to fill the current...
Texila International Journal of Public Health, 2022
Discrimination and stigmatization against the mentally ill are issues of concern for years and have negatively affected the health outcomes of the mentally ill. The WHO has advised that integration of mental health services is necessary to close the treatment gap that currently exists. The aim of this paper is to synthesize evidence from various researchers regarding the presence of discrimination and stigma of mentally ill patients among health care workers and the public and to identify its effect on the integration of mental health services into the primary health care system. A systematic search was conducted in the PubMed, EBSCO HOST, Google scholar, MEDLINE databases. Fifteen (15) studies were evaluated to determine the level of stigma and discrimination towards the mentally ill patient by health professionals and the public. Studies conducted in developing countries identified that stigma and discrimination against the mentally ill among health care workers and members of the general public exists, and this negatively affects the integration process. Fear of seeking help from the health care service providers and administration of poor quality of health care to this category of patients are some of the effects. Stigma and discrimination are still major issues in developing countries; it is imperative that means of resolving these issues are developed. The gap in mental health treatment exists and is growing. Education: increased public awareness and good governance of the health system are just a few ways in which we can resolve these problems.