Caregivers’ Perceptions of Quality of Care for Patients with Schizophrenia at Pantang Hospital, Accra

Abstract

Mental healthcare in Ghana, is slowly picking up with records of schizophrenia prevailing the most. This usually long-term mental illness, requires care within and outside of the health facility. Unlike physical health where patients’ perspective of health service received is a measure of quality of care, mental health though adopting methods from physical health research is slightly different. The shift from patients with schizophrenia unto their caregivers in the assessment of quality of care in this study is based on the patient advocacy role performed as a function of a caregiver. This study assesses the quality of care received by patients with schizophrenia in Pantang hospital by the following quality of care indicators: (1) Waiting time, (2) Staff attitude, (3) Communication clarity (4) Facility cleanliness without leaving out the expectations of health service delivery of these healthcare recipients. The study used a purposive method of sampling to recruit potential respondents. Digitally-recorded in-depth interviews were conducted to obtain the needed information with the aid of an interview guide. Data was thematically analysed using MS Excel Matrix and identified themes were summarised in interpretable tables. The findings on quality of care received were good but for the long waiting time that seemed a setback in all of these, though overall satisfaction of healthcare recipients in the study was satisfactory. The expectations of caregivers were very relatable issues such as the need to access mental health services through the National Health Insurance Scheme, provision of more mental health facilities to boost access and the aching desire to be seen by very few doctors throughout the long period of reviews in a bid to curb the menace of stigmatization that lurks around, leaving room for improvement through policy formulation, training and proper personnel management in Ghana’s mental health clime.