School of Social Sciences
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Item The Police and Society: A Study of the Role of the Police in the Ghanaian Polity, (1957-79)(University of Ghana, 1981-12) Ansah-Koi, K.Item Electroconvulsive Therapy with Schizophrenics Cognitive Dysfunction and Psychomotor Effect: A Study in Ghana(University of Ghana, 1983-07) Krafona, K.The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of eletroconvulsive therapy (ECT) on cognitive function in schizophrenics. Eighty-nine subjects made up of 60 acute schizophrenics and 29 normal, subjects were used for the study. Thirty of the schizophrenics were on phenothiazine and were also referred for ECT; the other 30 were on phenothiazine alone. Electroconvulsive therapy was administered twice a week for three weeks. Subjects were tested on memory, problem-solving and psychomotor tests after each ECTIt was observed that ECT-phenothiazine patients performed poorer than phenothiazine alone patients as well as normal subjects on memory tests after Ear. It was also found that after ECT, the ECT-phenothiazine patients had poorer scores on psychomotor tests than the phenothiazine alone patients as well as the normal, subjects. Females in the ECT-phenothiazine group had poorer scores than males in the same group on problem solving tests.There was no evidence to support the hypothesis that after ECT, auditory tests will suffer more than visual recognition tests. The results generally indicated that ECT has adverse effects on memory, problem solving and psychomotor activities. The memory problems associated with ECT were found to be transient.Item The Nazareth Healing Complex: A Study in Integrated Approach to Health Care(University of Ghana, 1989-12) Glover, E.K.; Twumasi, P . A .; University of Ghana, College of Humanities School of Social Sciences Department of SociologyThe main thrust of this study is to investigate a novel phenomenon in health care delivery at Vane, in the Volta Region of Ghana called the Nazareth Healing Complex (NHC). Designed to provide comprehensive health care at one location, the NHC combines faith, herbal and modern medical systems. The central aim of the NHC multispeciality group practice is to allow an interchange of ideas and consultation among all the health practitioners within the same facility. The assumed advantage is the greater continuity of care where referrals between different specialists are effected within the same facility, for the total health care of patients. This study seeks to discover the role of the NHC in meeting the psychological, social and physical health needs of the people. It attempts to explain the nature of the interrelationship between the constituent parts and to show the role-relationship between the NHC and the larger community of Vane. The Theoretical framework for the analysis was the Social Systems perspective which includes features of both rational and a fundamentalist model in the study of social change. The study adopted three methods for collecting data: participant observation, in-depth interviews and questionnaires. Analyses of the records show that the utilization of the NHC facilities is rather low. Findings suggest that the people largely by-pass the NHC facilities for other health care systems in the locality. Thus it was concluded that the NHC facilities are relatively unacceptable to the people. The people hardly see it as an added value. An attempt was made to offer some sociological explanations for this situation. Factors responsible for this situation include external and internal problems facing the NHC. With reference to the external factors, available evidence suggests that the NHC was unable to compete with the already established health institutions at Vane. These health institutions include self-care resources, modern medical systems, and traditional health care resources (including faith healing, general herbalists and diviner healers) in the locality. The internal factors include; administrative problems and poor co-ordination of constituent parts. This situation led to the eventual collapse of the intersectoral referral system which was the main premise on which the NHC was built. It has therefore been established that the low acceptability of the NHC facilities on the one hand is a function of poor integration into the socio-cultural milieu of Vane. On the other hand, the failure is a function of poor interplay between the constituents of the organization. Finally, the results of this study indicated that the diffusion of any innovation in any given community is a function of its relevance to the values, beliefs and expectations of the people. Coupled with this, the internal equilibrium of the innovating organization is also an essential determining factor in the realization of the goals and objectives of the organization. The success of the programme - among others - is positively related to these factors. The study suggests however, that there is need for further empirical research into sources of self-care services and factors which seem to make this a more convenient source of health care for the rural societies.Item Psychiatric Institutions in Ghana: Towards an Understanding of Erving Gofman's Typology(University of Ghana, 1989-11) Donkor, A.; Twumasi, P.A; University of Ghana, College of Humanities, School of Social Sciences, Department of SociologyThe main thrust of this thesis has been to examine Erving Goffman's typology of a Total Institution in the light of Ghanaian psychiatric institutions. In the typology Goffman classifies mental hospitals as Total Institutions. The typology came into being when he was examining psychiatric institutions in western cultures. A central problem that was posed in the Thesis was to see whether Goffman's typology has applicability in the Ghanaian cultural environment taking into consideration its western origin and the improvement in psychiatric medicine in recent years. Two hypotheses which were investigated and confirmed by this study are: 1. "That the psychiatric hospitals in Ghana are closed systems in which inmates do not have an easy contact with the wider society due to lack of resources". 2, "That the psychiatric hospitals in Ghana have partially renounced their custodial nature and have resorted to diagnosis treatment and rehabilitation of patients as a result of the emergence of new ideas in the field of medicine. The findings in this Thesis are that the mental hospitals are characteristically custodial establishments in spite of recent improvements in therapeutic techniques and therefore in principle confirm Erving Goffman's model. The study has suggested then that since the Ghanaian psychiatric hospitals like those elsewhere are only keeping the mental patients in custody there is the need to strengthen their rehabilitation programmes designed for the patients to enable them to function physically and socially in society.Item Sex Status, Cognitive Style and Report of Psychiatric Symptoms(University of Ghana, 1989-06) Adu-Gyamfi, J.G.; University of Ghana,College of Humanities,School of Social Sciences,Department of PsychologyThe aim of this study was three-fold to study (a) Sex differences in the report of psychiatric symptoms. (b) Sex differences in locus of control and (c) The relationship between locus of control and report of psychiatric symptoms. The study also looked at the relationship that exists between Marital Status, Age and Education and locus of control and the report of psychiatric symptoms. Two self-administered questionnaire were given to 320Ghanaian working Adults aged between 21-56 years. Results indicated that generally females report more psychiatric symptoms than males, especially single women. A significant interaction was found between sex and locus of control on the report of psychiatric symptoms. It was also found that females tended to be more internally oriented than males. A significant relationship was found between marital status and report of psychiatric symptoms and also between Education and locus of control. On the whole findings suggest that single females are apt to express specifically psychological difficulties than any other group and that changing cultural factors have made females more internally oriented.Item Some Aspects of Aetiological Classification of Different Levels of, and Parental Attitudes to, Mental Retardation in Ghana(University of Ghana, 1980-11) Adoo, S.M.; University of Ghana, College of Humanities, School of Social Sciences, Department of PsychologyThe aims of the studies presented in this paper were to investigate the causes of mental retardation in Ghana and the attitude of parents towards their mentally retarded children. There was the need for this type of investigation because what people think is the cause of mental retardation affects their attitude towards it. The sample comprised 120 rural and urban literate and illiterate parents and their mentally retarded children. A questionnaire was used for investigating the causes of mental retardation. In addition to this questionnaire, the case records of the mentally retarded children whose parents were used for the study were examined for more reliable information on the causes of mental retardation. It was found that the major causes of mental retardation in the children studied were epilepsy, brain injury, birth trauma and Down's syndrome. The following hypotheses were tested in the study on parental attitudes. 1- Literate parents will have a more positive attitude towards their mentally retarded children than illiterate parents. 2. Urban parents will have a more positive attitude towards their mentally retarded children than rural parents. 3. Mothers will have a more positive attitude towards their mentally retarded children than fathers. 4. Parents of children with mild retardation will have a more positive attitude than parents of children with moderate and severe retardation whilst parents of children with moderate retardation will have a more positive attitude than parents of children with severe retardation. A modified version of the Thurston Sentence Competition Form (TSCF) was used for the study on parental attitudes. The main conclusions from the results obtained from the statistical analyses were that education and urbanization have no effect on the attitude of parents towards their mentally retarded children. Fathers were found to have more positive attitude towards their mentally retarded children than mothers and the degree of retardation did not have any effect on the attitude of parents towards their mentally retarded children.