James Bawo O, Igbinomwanhia Nosa G, Omoaregba Joyce O
Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital
Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital.
Transcult Psychiatry. 2014 Aug;51(4):569-80. doi: 10.1177/1363461514525219. Epub 2014 Mar 5.
The paucity of skilled manpower in sub-Saharan Africa limits the delivery of effective interventions for the mentally ill. Individuals with mental disorders and their caregivers frequently consult clergy when mental symptoms cause distress. There is an urgent need for collaboration with nonprofessionals in order to improve mental health care delivery and close the widening treatment gap. Using a cross-sectional descriptive method, we explored clergy's (Christian and Muslim) aetiological attributions for common mental illness (schizophrenia and depression) from Benin City, Nigeria, as well as their willingness to collaborate with mainstream mental health services. We observed that a majority of clergy surveyed were able to correctly identify mental illnesses depicted in vignettes, embraced a multifactorial model of disease causation, and expressed willingness to collaborate with mental health care workers to deliver care. Clergy with a longer duration of formal education, prior mental health training, and Catholic/Protestant denomination expressed a greater willingness to collaborate. Educational interventions are urgently required to facilitate this partnership.
撒哈拉以南非洲地区熟练人力的匮乏限制了为精神疾病患者提供有效干预措施。当精神症状引发痛苦时，患有精神障碍的个人及其照料者常常会向神职人员咨询。迫切需要与非专业人员开展合作，以改善精神卫生保健服务的提供，并缩小不断扩大的治疗差距。我们采用横断面描述性方法，探究了尼日利亚贝宁城的神职人员（基督教和穆斯林）对常见精神疾病（精神分裂症和抑郁症）的病因归因，以及他们与主流精神卫生服务机构合作的意愿。我们观察到，接受调查的大多数神职人员能够正确识别案例中描述的精神疾病，接受疾病因果关系的多因素模型，并表示愿意与精神卫生保健工作者合作提供护理。接受正规教育时间较长、之前接受过精神卫生培训以及属于天主教/新教教派的神职人员表现出更强的合作意愿。迫切需要开展教育干预措施以促进这种伙伴关系。
