BackgroundPrevious research revealed high prevalence of psychological symptoms among sickle cell disease (SCD) patients in the West and Europe. In some Black SCD populations such as Nigeria and Jamaica, anxiety and depression had low prevalence rates compared to Europe. With difficulty locating research data on the prevalence of psychological symptoms in Ghana, this study aimed at exploring psychological symptoms among adults with SCD in a Teaching Hospital in Accra, Ghana.MethodsTwo hundred and one participants (males 102 and females 99) who were HbSS (n = 131) and HbSC (n = 70), aged 18 years and above were purposively recruited. Using the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) in a cross-sectional survey, the research answered questions about the prevalence of psychological symptoms. It also examined gender and genotype differences in psychological symptoms scores.ResultsResults indicated that adults with SCD had non-distress psychological symptoms scores. Although paranoid ideation as a psychological symptom indicated “a little bit” score, its prevalence was only 1 %. The prevalence of psychological symptoms as indexed by the Positive Symptom Total (PST) was 10 %. Anxiety, hostility, and depression were psychological symptoms with low scores. Furthermore, except psychoticism scores, males did not differ significantly from females in other psychological symptoms. On the contrary, HbSS participants differed significantly, reporting more psychological symptoms than their HbSC counterparts.ConclusionsThe study concluded that there was low prevalence of psychological symptoms among adults with SCD in this Ghanaian study. Although psychological symptoms distress scores were not observed among study participants at this time, females differed significantly by experiencing more psychoticism symptoms than males. HbSS participants also differed significantly by experiencing more depression, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, psychoticism, and additional symptoms such as poor appetite, trouble falling asleep, thoughts of dying, and feeling guilty, than their HbSC counterparts. Implications for further study and clinical practice were discussed.

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How SCD affects the physical, psychological and social aspects of patient life are known in some detail Anie [6]; Caird [7]. However, how SCD affects the spiritual dimensions of the patient is not vastly researched. The way SCD and its stresses are highly variable, so are the ways of coping with the physical, psychological and social complications of the disease Caird [7]. SCD individuals cope with the disease in a variety of ways, such as medical, psychological counseling, behavior modification, family support, drug use and abuse, hypnosis, herbal medication, and prayer. While most of these coping strategies are based in psychological strategies Jonassaint [8], others are based in complementary and alternative medicine Wachholtz, Pearce [9]. Spirituality and religiosity are other ways of coping with a variety of diseases. They both play a role in the spiritual wellbeing of an individual. Ellison [10] described spiritual

This study set out to examine how much distress men and women experience in their marital relationships, and whether or not education level is associated with marital distress. This was done by using the Marital Happiness Scale, and a questionnaire that measured demographic characteristics, as measuring instruments. Four research questions were formulated and four hypotheses were tested. They covered the differences that exist in the marital distress experiences among husbands and wives, and differences in education and their impact on marital distress. A total of eighty (80) married men and women comprising 40 husbands and 40 wives were conveniently and purposively selected to take part in the study. Descriptive statistics and t- Tests were used to analyse the data to bring out differences and to determine associations among variables. The findings showed that many persons who said they experienced distress in their marital relationships also tested distressed on a scale of marital distress; that among this population, wives tested more distressed than husbands in marriages. There were no significant differences between husbands and wives of low education and those of high education in their distress. Those with high education were not less distressed than those with low education. Marital distress is not a respecter of level of education. Suggestions were made for future research to consider other factors that account for distress in Ghanaian marriages other than education status.