University of Nottingham, School of Medicine, Academic Unit of Population and Lifespan Sciences, Nottingham, UK.
Addis Ababa University, College of Health Sciences, Department of Psychiatry, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Transcult Psychiatry. 2021 Aug;58(4):585-599. doi: 10.1177/13634615211015082. Epub 2021 May 25.
In Ethiopia, traditional and spiritual treatments, such as holy water, are used by people with mental disorders instead of, or alongside, psychiatric services. Collaborations between traditional and psychiatric providers may increase access to evidence-based treatments and address human rights abuses. This study aimed to explore the perspectives of holy water attendants on a novel collaboration between holy water and psychiatric care, at St Mary's Clinic, Entoto, Ethiopia, and to characterize the users of this service. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 holy water attendants, who run group houses for holy water residents and are paid by family members. A thematic analysis was conducted. Socio-demographic and clinical data were extracted from the records of all service users who had attended the clinic. A total of 174 individuals have attended the clinic in the three years since it opened. The majority were diagnosed with schizophrenia. Holy water attendants provide a partial gatekeeping role to psychiatric care, selecting which of their clients they think will benefit and, for these individuals, facilitating attendance to the clinic and antipsychotic medication adherence. Psychiatric care was felt to be compatible with holy water by some, but not all, attendants. However, family members often had the "final say" in individuals attending the clinic, in some cases putting up strong resistance to using psychiatric care. A novel collaboration is acceptable to some holy water attendants and may increase access to psychiatric care amongst people with mental illness living at a holy water site in Ethiopia.
在埃塞俄比亚，精神障碍患者除了（或在）接受精神科服务之外，还会采用传统和精神治疗方法，如圣水洗浴。传统治疗提供者与精神科提供者之间的合作可能会增加获得基于证据的治疗方法的机会，并解决侵犯人权的问题。本研究旨在探讨圣玛丽诊所（埃塞俄比亚恩托托）圣水与精神科护理之间的新型合作，探讨圣水护理人员的观点，并描述该服务的使用者特征。研究人员对 14 名圣水护理人员进行了半结构化访谈，他们为圣水居民经营集体宿舍，并由家属支付工资。采用主题分析法进行分析。从开业以来的三年中，所有在诊所就诊的患者记录中提取了社会人口学和临床数据。共有 174 人在诊所就诊。大多数人被诊断为精神分裂症。圣水护理人员对精神科护理起着一定的把关作用，他们会选择认为自己的客户会从中受益的人，并为这些人提供就诊和服用抗精神病药物的便利。一些圣水护理人员认为精神科护理与圣水是兼容的，但并非所有护理人员都这么认为。然而，家属往往对患者是否去诊所就医有“最终决定权”，在某些情况下，他们会强烈反对使用精神科护理。对于一些圣水护理人员来说，这种新型合作是可以接受的，并且可能会增加埃塞俄比亚圣水场所的精神疾病患者获得精神科护理的机会。
