Top

Published in:

06-09-2022 | Care | Original Paper

Seeking Healing for a Mental Illness: Understanding the Care Experiences of Service Users at a Prayer Camp in Ghana

Authors: L. Gyimah, A. Ofori-Atta, S. Asafo, L. Curry

Published in: Journal of Religion and Health | Issue 3/2023

Abstract

Human rights abuses in mental health care are a global concern. Addressing the problem requires input from key stakeholders, particularly from people using mental health services. This study explored the experiences of persons with mental illness receiving care in a faith-based setting in Ghana. The study employed a qualitative design, with in-depth interviews (n = 23) and focus groups (n = 18 participants in 3 groups). The constant comparative method of analysis was used to identify themes in participants’ descriptions of their experiences. The first three themes identified are consistent with human rights and coercion, and the last two themes related to service users’ views on participation in spiritual practices. Themes included: decision-making around care; consent and efficacy of religious healing; experiences with chaining; views around biomedical treatment; participation in religious activities as part of healing and recognition of the need for spiritual healing. It was observed that participants with prior experience of psychiatric treatment were happy about the absence of chaining in psychiatric facilities but strongly disliked the side effects of medications. These findings underscore the need for faith-based institutions to provide care that is consistent with patient preferences, thereby helping to address the resultant human rights abuses.

Ae-ngibise, K. A., Christian, V., Doku, K., Asante, K. P., & Owusu-agyei, S. (2015). The experience of caregivers of people living with serious mental disorders: A study from rural Ghana. Global Health Action, 8, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.3402/gha.v8.26957CrossRef

Ae-Ngibise, K., Cooper, S., Adiibokah, E., Akpalu, B., Lund, C., & Doku, V. (2010). “Whether you like it or not people with mental problems are going to go to them”: A qualitative exploration into the widespread use of traditional and faith healers in the provision of mental health care in Ghana. International Review of PsyChiatry, 22(6), 558–567. https://doi.org/10.3109/09540261.2010.536149CrossRefPubMed

Akpalu, B., Lund, C., Doku, V., Osei, A., Awenva, D., Cooper, S., & Flisher, A. J. (2010). Scaling up community-based services and improving quality of care in the state psychiatric hospitals: the way forward for Ghana. May, 109–115. https://doi.org/10.4314/ajpsy.v13i2.54356

Arias, D., Taylor, L., Ofori-atta, A., & Bradley, E. H. (2016). Prayer camps and biomedical care in Ghana: Is collaboration in mental health care possible? PLoS ONE, 11(9), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0162305CrossRef

Ashong, S., Kretchy, I. A., Afrane, B., & de-Graft Aikins, A. (2018). Patterns of prescription of psychotropic medications and their adherence among patients with schizophrenia in two psychiatric hospitals in Accra, Ghana: A cross-sectional survey. Hindawi Psychiatry Journal, 2018, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/9850594CrossRef

Ayinde, O. O., Fadahunsi, O., Kola, L., Malla, L. O., Nyame, S., Okoth, R. A., Cohen, A., Appiah-poku, J., Othieno, C. J., Seedat, S., & Gureje, O. (2021). Explanatory models, illness, and treatment experiences of patients with psychosis using the services of traditional and faith healers in three African countries: Similarities and discontinuities. Transcultural Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1177/13634615211064370CrossRefPubMed

Bemme, D., & Kirmayer, L. J. (2020). Global Mental Health: Interdisciplinary challenges for a field in motion. Transcultural Psychiatry, 57(1), 3–18. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363461519898035CrossRefPubMed

Bradley, E. H., Curry, L. A., & Devers, K. J. (2007). Qualitative data analysis for health services research: Developing taxonomy, themes, and theory. Qualitative Data Analysis for Health Services Research. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6773.2006.00684.xCrossRefPubMed

Curry, L. A., Nembhard, I. M., & Bradley, E. H. (2009). Qualitative and mixed methods provide unique contributions to outcomes research. Circulation, 119(10), 1442–1452. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.107.742775CrossRefPubMed

Derogatis, L. R. (1992). SCL-90-R: Administration, scoring & procedures manual-II for the (revised) version and other instruments of the psychopathology rating scale series. Clinical Psychometric Research, 1–16.

Drew, N., Funk, M., Tang, S., Lamichhane, J., Chávez, E., Katontoka, S., Pathare, S., Lewis, O., Gostin, L., & Saraceno, B. (2011). Human rights violations of people with mental and psychosocial disabilities: An unresolved global crisis. The Lancet, 378(9803), 1664–1675. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(11)61458-XCrossRef

Edwards, J. (2014). Ghana’s mental health patients confined to prayer camps. The Lancet, 383(9911), 15–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(13)62717-8CrossRef

Gureje, O., Appiah-Poku, J., Bello, T., Kola, L., Araya, R., Chisholm, D., Esan, O., Harris, B., Makanjuola, V., Othieno, C., Price, L. S., & Seedat, S. (2020). Effect of collaborative care between traditional and faith healers and primary health-care workers on psychosis outcomes in Nigeria and Ghana (COSIMPO): A cluster randomised controlled trial. The Lancet, 396(10251), 612–622. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30634-6CrossRef

Gureje, O., Nortje, G., Makanjuola, V., Oladeji, B. D., Seedat, S., & Jenkins, R. (2015). The role of global traditional and complementary systems of medicine in the treatment of mental health disorders. In The lancet psychiatry (Vol. 2, Issue 2). https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(15)00013-9

Heaton, M. M. (2018). The politics and practice of Thomas Adeoye Lambo: Towards a post-colonial history of transcultural psychiatry. History of Psychiatry, 29(3), 315–330. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957154X18765422CrossRefPubMed

Human Rights Watch. (2012). Like a Death Sentence: Abuses against Persons with Mental Disabilities in Ghana. https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/ghana1012webwcover.pdf

Human Rights Watch. (2020). Living in Chains: Shackling of People with Psychosocial Disabilities Worldwide. https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/10/06/living-chains/shackling-people-psychosocial-disabilities-worldwide#:~:text=Definition%20and%20Causes%20of%20Shackling&text=Shackling%20is%20a%20rudimentary%20form,support%20or%20mental%20health%20services.

Jack, H., Canavan, M., Bradley, E., & Ofori-atta, A. (2015). Aggression in mental health settings : A case study in Ghana. Bull World Health Organisation, 93, 587–588. https://doi.org/10.2471/BLT.14.145813CrossRef

Kpobi, L., & Swartz, L. (2019). 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. African Journal of Primary Health Care and Family Medicine, 11(1), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.4102/phcfm.v11i1.1941CrossRef

Kpobi, L., Swartz, L., & Keikelame, M. J. (2018). Ghanaian traditional and faith healers’ explanatory models for epilepsy. Epilepsy and Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yebeh.2018.04.016CrossRefPubMed

Kretchy, I. A., Osafo, J., Agyemang, S. A., Appiah, B., & Nonvignon, J. (2018). Psychological burden and caregiver-reported non-adherence to psychotropic medications among patients with schizophrenia. Psychiatry Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2017.10.034CrossRefPubMed

Laila, N. H., Mahkota, R., Krianto, T., & Shivalli, S. (2018). Perceptions about pasung (physical restraint and confinement) of schizophrenia patients: A qualitative study among family members and other key stakeholders in Bogor Regency, West Java Province, Indonesia 2017. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 12(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13033-018-0216-0CrossRef

Mental Health Act, 2012, 1 (2012) (testimony of Government of Ghana). https://lawsghana.com/post-1992-legislation/table-of-content/Acts%20of%20Parliament/MENTAL%20HEALTH%20ACT,%202012%20(ACT%20846)/143

Mental Health Authourity Ghana. (2018). Guidelines for Traditional and Faith Based Healers in Mental Health. http://hracghana.org/sites/default/files/2020-07/GUIDELINES-FOR-TRADITIONAL-AND-FAITH-BASED-HEALERS_0.pdf

Mental Health Authourity Ghana. (2019). QualityRights Ghana. https://www.qualityrights.com.gh/

Mental Health Regulations, 6 (2019) (testimony of Government of Ghana).

Morgan, D. L. (1996). Focus groups. Annual Review Sociology, 22(1), 129–152. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.22.1.129CrossRef

Morse, J. M. (1995). The significance of saturation. Qualitative Health Research, 5, 147–149. https://doi.org/10.1177/104973239500500201CrossRef

Nortey, S. T., Aryeetey, G. C., Aikins, M., Amendah, D., & Nonvignon, J. (2017). Economic burden of family caregiving for elderly population in southern Ghana: The case of a peri-urban district. International Journal for Equity in Health, 16(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-016-0511-9CrossRef

Nyame, S., Adiibokah, E., Mohammed, Y., Doku, V. C., Othieno, C., Harris, B., Gureje, O., Soraya, S., & Appiah-Poku, J. (2021). Perceptions of Ghanaian traditional health practitioners, primary health care workers, service users and caregivers regarding collaboration for mental health care. BMC Health Services Research, 21(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-021-06313-7CrossRef

Ofori-Atta, A., Attafuah, J., Jack, H., Baning, F., & Rosenheck, R. (2018). Joining psychiatric care and faith healing in a prayer camp in Ghana: Randomised trial. British Journal of Psychiatry, 212(1), 34–41. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2017.12CrossRef

Opoku-Boateng, Y. N., Kretchy, I. A., Aryeetey, G. C., Dwomoh, D., Decker, S., Agyemang, S. A., Tozan, Y., Aikins, M., & Nonvignon, J. (2017). Economic cost and quality of life of family caregivers of schizophrenic patients attending psychiatric hospitals in Ghana. BMC Health Services Research. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-017-2642-0CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Osafo, J., Agyapong, I., & Asamoah, M. K. (2017). Exploring the nature of treatment regimen for mentally ill persons by neo-prophetic ministers in Ghana. International Journal of Culture and Mental Health, 8(3), 325–339. https://doi.org/10.1080/17542863.2014.973428CrossRef

Patel, V. (2012). Global mental health: From science to action. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 20(1), 6–12. https://doi.org/10.3109/10673229.2012.649108CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative interviewing. Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods, 3(1), 344–347.

Potts, L. C., & Henderson, C. (2021). Evaluation of anti-stigma social marketing campaigns in Ghana and Kenya: Time to change global. BMC Public Health, 21(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10966-8CrossRef

Read, U. (2012). “I want the one that will heal me completely so it won’t come back again”: The limits of antipsychotic medication in rural Ghana. Transcultural Psychiatry, 49(4), 438–460. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363461512447070CrossRefPubMed

Read, U. M. (2019a). Madness and miracles: Hoping for HEALING IN RUral Ghana. In R. Littlewood & R. Lynch (Eds.), Cosmos, gods and madmen: Frameworks in the anthropologies of medicine (1st ed., pp. 45–66). Berghahn Books. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvpj7h19.7

Read, U. M. (2019b). Rights as relationships: Collaborating with faith healers in community mental health in Ghana. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 43(4), 613–635. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11013-019-09648-3CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Read, U. M., Adiibokah, E., & Nyame, S. (2009). Local suffering and the global discourse of mental health and human rights: An ethnographic study of responses to mental illness in rural Ghana. Globalization and Health, 5(13), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-8603-5-13CrossRef

Read, U. M., & Nyame, S. (2019). “It is left to me and my god”: Precarity, responsibility, and social change in family care for people with mental illness in Ghana. Africa Today, 65(3), 3–27. https://doi.org/10.2979/africatoday.65.3.02CrossRef

Semrau, M., Lempp, H., Keynejad, R., Evans-Lacko, S., Mugisha, J., Raja, S., Lamichhane, J., Alem, A., Thornicroft, G., & Hanlon, C. (2016). Service user and caregiver involvement in mental health system strengthening in low- and middle-income countries: Systematic review. BMC Health Services Research, 16(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-016-1323-8CrossRef

Sipsma, H., Ofori-atta, A., Canavan, M., Osei-akoto, I., Udry, C., & Bradley, E. H. (2013). Poor mental health in Ghana: Who is at risk ? BMC Public Health, 13(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-288CrossRef

Tawiah, P. E., Adongo, P. B., Aikins, M., & Aikins, M. (2015). Mental health-related stigma and discrimination in Ghana: Experience of patients and their caregivers. Ghana Medical Journal. https://doi.org/10.4314/gmj.v49i1.6CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

WHO(World Health Organization). (2017). WHO QualityRights. https://www.who.int/mental_health/policy/quality_rights/QRs_flyer_eng_2017.pdf#:~:text=QualityRights is WHO’s global initiative to improve the,mental health care which is rights-based and recovery-oriented. http://www.who.int/mental_health/policy/quality_rights/en/

WHO. (2020). WCO GHANA Annual Report, 2020. https://www.afro.who.int/sites/default/files/2021-04/WCOAnnualReport2020.pdf

Yaro, P. B., Asampong, E., Tabong, P. T. N., Anaba, S. A., Azuure, S. S., Dokurugu, A. Y., & Nantogmah, F. A. (2020). Stakeholders’ perspectives about the impact of training and sensitization of traditional and spiritual healers on mental health and illness: A qualitative evaluation in Ghana. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 66(5), 476–484. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764020918284CrossRefPubMed

Title: Seeking Healing for a Mental Illness: Understanding the Care Experiences of Service Users at a Prayer Camp in Ghana
Authors: L. Gyimah
A. Ofori-Atta
S. Asafo
L. Curry
Publication date: 06-09-2022
Publisher: Springer US
Keyword: Care
Published in: Journal of Religion and Health / Issue 3/2023
Print ISSN: 0022-4197
Electronic ISSN: 1573-6571
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-022-01643-0

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Seeking Healing for a Mental Illness: Understanding the Care Experiences of Service Users at a Prayer Camp in Ghana

Abstract

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 3/2023

The Effect of Praying on Endogenous Pain Modulation and Pain Intensity in Healthy Religious Individuals in Lebanon: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The Gap in Mental Health Service Utilization Among United Methodist Clergy with Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms

Informing the UK Muslim Community on Organ Donation: Evaluating the Effect of a National Public Health Programme by Health Professionals and Faith Leaders

Assessment of Health Behaviours and Satisfaction with Life among Catholic Priests in Poland

Examining the Relationship of Clergy Distress, Spiritual Well-Being, Stress Management and Irritation to Life Satisfaction among Black Pastors in the USA

Are Prayer-Based Interventions Effective Pain Management Options? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials