Browsing by Author "Dickson, E."
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Item Between moral infraction and existential crisis: Exploring physicians and nurses’ attitudes to suicide and the suicidal patient in Ghana(Elsevier Ltd, 2018) Osafo, J.; Akotia, C.S.; Boakye, K.E.; Dickson, E.Background: Negative attitudes of health professionals towards suicide may hamper their willingness and skills to work with attempt survivors. Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the attitudes of physicians and nurses towards suicide and the suicidal patient. Methods: A semi-structured qualitative interview was conducted on Twenty five (25) health professionals: (15 physicians and 10 casualty nurses) from five hospitals in Accra, the capital of Ghana. Results: Findings showed that while majority of physicians viewed suicide as an existential crisis, most of the nurses viewed it as a moral infraction. Three key attitudes towards suicide and the suicidal patient were observed: stable, dissonant and transitioned. The findings are discussed under three main themes: Contexts, Theorizing suicide, and Shades of attitudes. Conclusion: Nurses and Physicians are key gatekeepers in suicide prevention in Ghana. Training is however, needed to improve both attitudes (especially for nurses) and competence towards suicide prevention in the country. © 2018 Elsevier LtItem Implementation of Single Spine Pay Policy in public sector of Ghana: Analysis and recommendations from organizational development perspective.(Business Excellence, 2015) Oppong, S.; Dickson, E.; Asumeng, M.A.With generally lower salaries in the public sector, the Government of Ghana initiated pay policy reforms in 2006 and established the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission by law in 2007. Th is pay policy is an organisational development (OD) intervention that aimed at ensuring internal and external pay equity. Th is process culminated in the design of the single spine pay policy whose implementation commenced in January 2010. Th e implementation has not been without its challenges; this resulted in a calling of a national forum on the sustainability of the new pay policy. It is against this backdrop that this paper sought to review the implementation of the single spine pay policy (SSPP) in the public sector within an OD and intervention perspective. Specifi cally, this paper pointed out that SSPP reforms constitute a re-creation, a reactive but a discontinuous change. As a result, its implementation was explored in the light of Lewinian three-stage model of organizational change; it further assessed the implementation against its main objectives whiles identifying some of its challenges. In addition, recommendations were also presented for further improvement of the pay policy. It was concluded that the implementation has been partially successful and when given the needed support it would achieve its objectives and be sustainable in the long-run.Item Personality Traits, Clinical Characteristics, and Health-Related Quality of Life of Patients with Hypertension in a Primary Hospital in Ghana(International Journal of Hypertension, 2019-01) Kretchy, I.A.; Acheampong, F.; Laryea, J.; Osafo, J.; Asampong, E.; Dickson, E.Background. Hypertension is a major health problem that remains a significant threat to the health and general wellbeing of many people all over the world. In some patients, the etiology and prognosis of hypertension have been linked to psychological factors including personality traits. One primary goal of management is to improve the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients with hypertension. This study aimed to examine the association between personality traits, clinical characteristics, and HRQoL in hypertension. Methods. A hospital-based cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted in a sample of 331 individuals with hypertension. Data on sociodemographic characteristics, clinical information, personality traits, and HRQoL were obtained from participants using an interviewer administered questionnaire. Results. The number of participants with a 1–10 years’ duration of diagnosis for hypertension was highest (56.8%), with 52.9% having comorbidities such as diabetes (40.2%) and dyslipidaemia (20.9%). The average number of medications taken per patient was 2.14 (SD±0.79) and about 47.1% of the participants reported adequate medication adherence. Significant associations for age, education, monthly income, number of years with hypertension, and HRQoL were observed. While conscientiousness was significantly associated with all HRQoL domains, extraversion and agreeableness were significantly related to only the environmental domain. Conclusion. This study has demonstrated that clinical characteristics and patients’ perception of their personality are relevant to their health-related quality of life outcomes. The findings suggest that when intervention efforts to improve the quality of life of patients with hypertension are being considered, a biopsychosocial approach should be employed. The implication is that treatment of hypertension in Ghana should be broadened to include the expertise of mental health professionals.Item Recombinant ESAT-6-CFP10 Fusion Protein Induction of Th1/Th2 Cytokines and FoxP3 Expressing Treg Cells in Pulmonary TB(PLoS ONE, 2013-06) Jackson-Sillah, D.; Cliff, M.J.; Mensah, I.G.; Dickson, E.; Sowah, S.; Tetteh, A.K.J.; Addo, K.K.; Ottenhoff, H.M.T.; Bothamley, G.; Dockrell, H.M.Early secretory antigenic target 6 (ESAT-6) and culture filtrate protein 10 (CFP-10) are Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)–specific antigens that are secreted by actively metabolising bacteria and contribute to the virulence of the bacteria. Their ability to induce Treg and Th2 responses, particularly during the first two weeks of treatment, has not been comprehensively examined to date. The purpose of this work was to characterise Th1, Th2 and Treg responses to rESAT-6-CFP10 fusion protein in TB patients before and during the intensive phase of treatment and in healthy M.bovis BCG vaccinated donors. Methods: Forty-six newly diagnosed, HIV-negative, smear-positive pulmonary TB patients and 20 healthy donors were recruited in the UK and Ghana. Their peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were used in ex vivo ELISPOT and in vitro cultures to identify immunological parameters of interest. Results: The study confirmed that protective immune responses to rESAT-6-CFP10 are impaired in active TB but improved during treatment: circulating antigen-specific IL-4-producing T-cells were increased in untreated TB but declined by two weeks of treatment while the circulating antigen-specific IFN-c producing T cells which showed a transient rise at one week of treatment, persisted at baseline levels at two months of treatment. In vitro T cell proliferation and IFN-c production were reduced, while IL-4 and CD4+FoxP3+CD25hi cell expression were increased in response to rESAT-6-CFP10 fusion protein in untreated TB. These responses were reversed during early treatment of TB. Conclusions: These observations support further investigations into the possible utility of these parameters as markers of active disease and favourable treatment outcomes.