The Role of Divination in Health Seeking Practices in the Talensi-Nabdam District of Northern Ghana
Date
2014-02
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University of Ghana
Abstract
In spite of the available modern technologies for dealing with ill-health, many people
continue to resort to divination in the search for therapy. The persistence of the practice of
divination in health seeking suggests that there is a considerable use derived from its practice.
Against this background this study was conducted to assess the extent to which divination
influences health-seeking behaviour as people utilise modern healthcare facilities in the
Talensi-Nabdam district in Northern Ghana, findings of which could provide clues to some
barriers to healthcare delivery and utilization in Ghana at large.
A mixed-method approach involving Focus Group Discussions with community elders, in-
depth interviews with practicing diviners and experienced healthcare practitioners, and a
community survey using a questionnaire was used. Analysis involved triangulation of both
the qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data was analysed by importing verbatim
transcripts of all interviews and discussions into Nvivo-7 software, while quantitative
analyses involved logistic regression procedures, using Stata-10 software.
The use of divination in health seeking was found to be significantly correlated with age, sex,
marital status, number of wives possessed by men, number of children, level of education and
religious affiliation. Findings also suggest that on the pathway between symptoms
recognition and therapy options divination is often employed to pin down supernatural and
other causes of misfortunes and ill-health and to determine the appropriate patterns of resort.
Patients with such diseases as burns, boils, anthrax, and snakebites tend to consult diviners
first as they believe these conditions are of spiritual or supernatural origin. Diviners don’t
consider themselves as healers, but rather consider themselves merely as custodians of the
spiritual conduits by which people can find out the causes of ill-health and other misfortunes
from the spiritual and ancestral world in order to determine the course of action.
The findings have implications for healthcare service and utilization: delays in seeking and
utilising modern healthcare services and the tendency for patients asking for “discharge
against medical advice” to enable alternative treatment at home, as well as reasons for
treatment failures at modern healthcare facilities.
It is proposed that a bio-psycho-social-spiritual model should be integrated into clinical care
of patients at modern healthcare facilities especially in diagnostic interviews and treatment
regimes of patients. Collaboration between the Ghana Health Service and diviners together
with other magico-religious healthcare practitioners could facilitate incorporation of this
model into medical and nursing training curricular.
Description
Thesis (PhD) - University of Ghana, 2014