Kpobi Lily, Swartz Leslie
Department of Psychology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch.
Afr J Prim Health Care Fam Med. 2019 Jul 15;11(1):e1-e5. doi: 10.4102/phcfm.v11i1.1941.
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.
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.
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.
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.
对于非洲国家的许多人来说，他们会利用各种形式的医疗保健来治疗疾病。这种多元化的就医方式包括使用本土药物、宗教疗法和对抗疗法进行治疗。
在本文中，我们旨在深入了解加纳关于本土疗法和宗教疗法的现有知识，尤其关注心理健康护理。我们首先考察加纳替代疗法治疗师所报告的心理健康观念和做法。在此之后，我们研究患者对非生物医学心理健康护理的使用情况及据称的偏好。
查阅相关文献，以探究加纳非生物医学心理健康护理系统的观念、做法及使用情况。
关于非生物医学心理健康护理的使用和偏好的证据大多属于传闻。同样，替代疗法治疗师的心理健康观念已在各种小规模研究中有所记载。然而，如果要改善加纳的心理健康服务，此类信息很重要。
不同医疗保健系统的整合必须建立在对观念和方法的了解之上。如果要就加纳生物医学系统与非生物医学系统之间的合作提出适当建议，更清楚地了解非生物医学治疗师的工作很重要。
