Nurses and midwives are the majority of healthcare professionals globally, including Africa, and they provide care at all levels of the health system including community levels. Nurses and midwives contribute to the care of patients with rigid or dogmatic religious beliefs or those with suicidal ideations. This review paper discusses acute and chronic diseases that have suicidal tendencies such as terminal cancer, diseases with excruciating pain, physical disability, stroke, end-stage renal failure, and diabetics who are amputated. It was reiterated that nurses and midwives taking care of these patients should be alert and observant to identify their suicidal tendencies. The paper also discusses religious or spiritual inclinations that negatively affect healthcare access and adherence, especially to biomedical or western medicine. It was emphasized that some religious beliefs do not allow their followers to employ biomedical treatment and nurses and midwives should not impose their faith on patients and their families. The paper ends with a discussion on the specific roles of nurses and midwives in the care of patients with suicidal ideations such as assessment, counseling, administering medication, observation, social interaction, ensuring safety measures, and providing an enabling environment for the family to part of the care and for the observation of religious coping strategies. Nurses and midwives should enhance their knowledge and skills on suicide and increase public education on suicide prevention and identification of those at risk.

that balancing work with family responsibilities such as breastfeeding has adverse consequences for both individual mothers and the organizations that they work in as it affects not only work output but also the psychosocial well-being of the mother and the new child and the entire family of the woman (Brief & Weiss, 2017;Danso, 2014).The dual role of being a mother and having to resume full duties at work puts serious demands on women post maternity leave

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Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a serious genetic and inherited disorder. It has a physical, psychological, and socioeconomic impact on affected individuals including children and families. Globally, about 275,000 children are born annually with SCD, with an estimated 85% of these births being in Africa. In Ghana, an estimated 2% of infants that were screened were affected by SCD. Although extensive studies have been conducted on the burden on parents of children with SCD, little is known about how parents manage the disease among their children at home in our setting. This qualitative study explored the knowledge of caregivers of children with SCD, how they recognize/monitor complications of the disease and management strategies at home. An explorative qualitative study using the nonprobability purposive method was used to interview fourteen (14) caregivers of children with SCD who were recruited from the Tamale Teaching Hospital. In-depth interviews using an interview guide was used. A tape recorder was used to record each interview yielding a total of fourteen (14) audios. Audiotapes were transcribed verbatim. Data collected during these interviews were analyzed using inductive thematic content analysis. Caregivers have adequate knowledge of the signs and symptoms of SCD, its complications, and the various types their children have but fall short of knowledge on the cause of SCD. Knowledge acquired on SCD does not translate into caregivers’ ability to effectively identify and monitor crises or complications at home. Home management strategies used by caregivers’ were both pharmacological and nonpharmacological, and some used the combination to manage pain and monitor the health of their children. Even though the majority have used traditional medicine before, they prefer orthodox interventions which they consider more effective.

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