The African Belief System and the Patient’s Choice of Treatment from Existing Health Models: The Case of Ghana
Date
2017
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
iMedPub Journals
Abstract
This paper presents a narrative review including a case study of the African Belief
System. A strong belief in supernatural powers is deeply rooted in the African
culture. In Ghana, there is a spiritual involvement in the treatment of illness
and healthcare. The new health model in the African culture therefore can be
considered to be the Biopsychosocial(s) model-with the s representing spiritual
practice-compared to the biopsychosocial model in Western culture. The case
study on dissociative amnesia illustrates that Africans consider spiritual causes of
illness when a diagnosis of an illness is very challenging. The causes of mental
health conditions in particular seem challenging to Africans, and therefore are
easily attributed to spiritual powers. The spiritual belief in African clients should
not be rejected but should be used by caregivers to guide and facilitate clients’
recovery from illness. The spiritual belief provides hope. Therefore when combined
with Western treatment, this belief can quicken illness recovery.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Spiritual belief, Spiritual, African, Traditional culture