Agyapong Vincent I O, Ritchie Amanda, Doucet Kacy, Agyapong-Opoku Gerald, Shalaby Reham, Hrabok Marianne, Ulzen Thaddeus, Osei Akwasi
Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
Alberta Health Services, Edmonton, Canada.
Glob Ment Health (Camb). 2020 Nov 3;7:e31. doi: 10.1017/gmh.2020.24. eCollection 2020.
Currently, Ghana has 14 actively practicing psychiatrists and about 26 psychiatric residents for a population of over 28 million people. Previous research suggests a lack of interest by Ghanaian medical students and medical graduates in considering psychiatry as a career option.
To examine the perception of medical students and psychiatry residents in Ghana about the barriers which hinder Ghanaian medical graduates from choosing careers in psychiatry and how these barriers could be overcome.
This was a cross-sectional qualitative study with data gathered using focus group discussion. Twenty clinical year medical students were selected through block randomization from the four public medical schools in Ghana and invited to participate in one of two focus group discussions. Also, four psychiatric residents were invited to participate in the focus group discussions.
The main barriers identified by participants could be grouped under four main themes, namely: (a) myths and stigma surrounding mental health and patients, (b) negative perceptions of psychiatrists, (c) infrastructure and funding issues, (d) lack of exposure and education. To address the barriers presented, participants discussed potential solutions that could be categorized into five main themes, namely: (a) stigma reduction, (b) educating professionals, (c) addressing deficient infrastructure, (d) risk management, and (e) incentivizing the pursuit of psychiatry among students.
Health policy planners and medical training institutions could consider implementing proposed solutions to identify barriers as part of efforts to improve the psychiatrist to patient ratio in Ghana.
目前，加纳有14名在职精神科医生和大约26名精神科住院医师，而其人口超过2800万。先前的研究表明，加纳医学生和医学毕业生对将精神病学作为职业选择缺乏兴趣。
研究加纳医学生和精神科住院医师对阻碍加纳医学毕业生选择精神病学职业的障碍的看法，以及如何克服这些障碍。
这是一项横断面定性研究，通过焦点小组讨论收集数据。通过整群随机抽样从加纳四所公立医学院中选取了20名临床年级医学生，并邀请他们参加两个焦点小组讨论中的一个。此外，还邀请了4名精神科住院医师参加焦点小组讨论。
参与者确定的主要障碍可归为四个主要主题，即：(a) 围绕心理健康和患者的误解与污名；(b) 对精神科医生的负面看法；(c) 基础设施和资金问题；(d) 缺乏接触和教育。为解决所提出的障碍，参与者讨论了可分为五个主要主题的潜在解决方案，即：(a) 减少污名；(b) 教育专业人员；(c) 解决基础设施不足问题；(d) 风险管理；(e) 激励学生从事精神病学工作。
卫生政策规划者和医学培训机构可考虑实施所提出的解决方案，以识别障碍，作为提高加纳精神科医生与患者比例努力的一部分。
