Community Perceptions of Reintegrated Psychiatric Patients: The Case of Osu-Klottey District in the Greater Accra Region

Abstract

Background: The burden of mental disorders is increasing in developing as well as developed countries. Treatments for people with mental illness usually requires family member’s involvement, community members and health practitioners’ participation. However, there is limited resources, structures and written literature that investigates the reintegration of a fully recovered mental patient into the community. This is related to the perceptions, beliefs and discriminating behaviors exhibited by the “normal” in society towards the labeled “abnormal”. This problem is predominant in Africa where there is lack of knowledge on mental health-related issues and inadequate structures to provide these patients with distinct needs in the community. The research aims at providing a comprehensive understanding on the knowledge the Osu Klottey community members have towards what reintegration of the mentally ill client into the community Method: A qualitative technique was used to collect the data and a systematic approach employed to obtain the exact sample size for the study. An in-depth interview and focus group discussion with a well-structured interview guide was utilized to collect data in the Osu Klottey Sub-District of Greater Accra region of Ghana. Results: It was observed that majority of the participants had positive knowledge on mental health disorders in spite of the negative attitudes and view of some of the residents. Furthermore, the respondents appeared to have prior knowledge on the possible causes of mental illness such as drug abuse, trauma, stress, broken heart, family and spiritual curses and punishment from gods. A greater part of the respondents attributed mental disorders to divine punishment and drug abuse. This suggests that the stigma as well as discrimination towards the afflicted individuals was prevalent among the participants. Also, it was noted that the family together with the community does not favor the reintegration of the mentally ill due to the negative perception about their unpredicted behaviors. Thus, to encourage reintegration of the patients in to the community, a comprehensive approach which requires the commitment of the local community, mental health care services providers and intermediary level stakeholders like social and community development workers are required.