Treatment Seeking Behaviour of People Living with Mental Illness in Regional Psychiatric Hospitals in Ghana

Abstract

Mental illness is widely recognized as a major contributor to the global burden of disease. Unfortunately, there is a lack of appropriate treatment seeking among the Ghanaian population. This research sought to examine the treatment seeking behaviour of people living with mental illness in regional psychiatric hospitals in Ghana and how patient’s attitude toward professional mental health treatment and illness perception influence these behaviours. One hundred and fifty (150) participants comprising hundred (100) mentally ill patients and fifty (50) sickle cell disease individuals were involved in this study. Mentally ill participants were outpatients of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Pantang Hospital and Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital, which are the three major psychiatric hospitals in Ghana. Sickle cell disease individuals were sampled from the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. Data was collected using the Pathway to Care questionnaire, the Illness Perception Questionnaire, General Health Questionnaire and the Attitude toward Mental Health Treatment scale. Results indicated that a significant number of mentally ill patients perceived their illness as genetic compared to sickle cell disease patients. However, both groups did not differ in terms of onset of treatment seeking. Mentally ill patients who have positive attitude towards professional mental health treatment sought psychiatric treatment as the first choice of treatment as compared to those who sought psychiatric treatment as the second or third choice of treatment The most important predictor of treatment seeking among people with mental illness is attitude towards professional mental health treatment. Implications of the findings were discussed.