Gyimah Ebenezer Mensah, Dassah Ebenezer, Opoku Maxwell Peprah, Mprah Wisdom Kwadwo, Nketsia William, Ntoaduro Afua, Mensah Philip Atta, Opoku Cecilia, Tutu Clement Osei, Zakia Issaka, Adade Richard, Okyere Paul
Department of Clinical Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.
Department of Health Promotion and Disability Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
BMC Res Notes. 2025 May 13;18(1):213. doi: 10.1186/s13104-025-07267-3.
In Ghana, Adolescents with mobility and visual impairments and their families, encounter healthcare disparities, including socio-economic, physical, structural and attitudinal challenges, compared to the general population. Nonetheless, there is limited motivation to understand how to improve healthcare access for these marginalized consumers (i.e., adolescents with disabilities and their families). Consequently, the study explored marginalized consumers' recommendations for improving access to healthcare services, described in Ghana's Act 715. Informed by the qualitative descriptive design, forty-five (45) participants were purposively recruited and interviewed, adopting a semi-structured interview guide. Data gathered were subjected to content analysis and interpreted via lenses of the theory of dimensions of healthcare access.
The study's findings were layered within areas of improving policy-practice interphase. Consumers called on policy makers to restructure the NHIS to cover indirect costs of accessing healthcare services for adolescents with disabilities. In respect of improving practice, it was also suggested that training and education on disability phenomenon must be extended to all cadres of healthcare workers including administrative staff, who provided services to this marginalized social unit. Participants further recommended enhancing the availability of healthcare workers and services as well as ensuring respect and protection of human rights within healthcare facilities.
在加纳，与普通人群相比，行动不便和视力受损的青少年及其家庭面临医疗保健差异，包括社会经济、身体、结构和态度方面的挑战。然而，对于如何改善这些边缘化消费者（即残疾青少年及其家庭）的医疗保健可及性，人们的积极性有限。因此，本研究探讨了边缘化消费者对改善医疗保健服务可及性的建议，这些建议在加纳第715号法案中有描述。本研究采用定性描述设计，通过半结构化访谈指南，有目的地招募并采访了45名参与者。收集到的数据进行了内容分析，并通过医疗保健可及性维度理论的视角进行解释。
该研究的结果分层体现在改善政策与实践衔接的领域。消费者呼吁政策制定者重组国家健康保险计划（NHIS），以涵盖残疾青少年获得医疗保健服务的间接成本。在改善实践方面，还建议将关于残疾现象的培训和教育扩展到所有医疗保健工作者，包括为这个边缘化社会群体提供服务的行政人员。参与者还建议增加医疗保健工作者和服务的可及性，并确保在医疗保健设施内尊重和保护人权。
