Perceptions of mental illness among Muslim general practitioners in South Africa

Mohamed-Kaloo, Zaakiyah; Laher, Sumaya

doi:10.7196/samj.7863

Cited by 19 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Participants in that study held different religious beliefs from the majority of the South African population. That study analyzed the impact of clinicians’ belief systems on clinical practice in relation to mental illnesses, perceptions of the mental illness, the effect of religion and culture, and treatment of mental illness (including aspects of spiritual illness); the findings highlighted the need for greater awareness among these healthcare professionals regarding mental illness and an understanding of the differing religious and cultural taxonomies of illness held by the people to whom they provided care [ 29 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental health literacy among pediatric hospital staff in the United Arab Emirates

et al. 2017

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BackgroundIn the United Arab Emirates (UAE) 35% of the population are aged 0–24 years. A significant proportion of these young people are living with chronic conditions (e.g., asthma, type 1 diabetes, cardiac conditions, and genetically-transmitted conditions such as thalassemia and cystic fibrosis). This group has increased vulnerability to developmental delays and mental health problems, and is increasingly coming to the attention of service providers in mainstream schools, primary healthcare centers, and pediatric hospitals. Despite the government directing attention to improving the mental health of the UAE population, there is concern that mental health services are not growing at the rate needed to meet the mental health needs of children and young people with chronic conditions.MethodA cross sectional survey design was used to determine the mental health literacy of nurses and other healthcare professionals working with children with chronic illnesses. Participants completed a culturally-adapted mental health literacy questionnaire comprising three vignettes of fictional characters meeting diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder, psychosis, and depression with suicidal thoughts. Participants also completed the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10).ResultsParticipants were 317 healthcare professionals from across the UAE. The majority were nurses. Correct identification of the diagnosis for each vignette was limited, with the highest level of accuracy achieved for the psychosis vignette (n = 113, 54.3%). Accurate identification of appropriate evidence-based interventions was also limited. K10 scores indicated 40% of participants had moderate to high levels of psychological distress.ConclusionsThese findings are concerning and provide important data to inform the development of undergraduate and continuing education programs for nurses. The K10 scores suggest healthcare professionals are under considerable stress, highlighting the need to support healthcare professionals who experience multiple psychosocial stressors.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental health literacy among pediatric hospital staff in the United Arab Emirates

et al. 2017

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“…Majority of the practitioners showed concerted effort to promote collaboration by emphasizing on the need for referral system and importance of establishing the roles of the different practitioners in health care. Various studies have been demonstrated in Africa to show the willingness of traditional and faith healers in collaborating with clinicians [ 11 , 22 – 25 ]. Kaboru and colleagues stated that education and adequate community involvement could enhance this collaboration [ 7 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forming a joint dialogue among faith healers, traditional healers and formal health workers in mental health in a Kenyan setting: towards common grounds

Musyimi

Mutiso

Nandoya

et al. 2016

J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine

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BackgroundQualitative evidence on dialogue formation and collaboration is very scanty in Kenya. This study thus aimed at the formation of dialogue and establishment of collaboration among the informal (faith and traditional healers) and formal health workers (clinicians) in enhancing community–based mental health in rural Kenya.MethodsQualitative approach was used to identify barriers and solutions for dialogue formation by conducting nine Focus Group Discussions each consisting of 8–10 participants. Information on age, gender and role in health care setting as well as practitioners’ (henceforth used to mean informal (faith and traditional healers) and formal health workers) perceptions on dialogue was collected to evaluate dialogue formation. Qualitative and quantitative data analysis was performed using thematic content analysis and Statistical Package Social Sciences (SPSS) software respectively.ResultsWe identified four dominant themes such as; (i) basic understanding about mental illnesses, (ii) interaction and treatment skills of the respondents to mentally ill persons, (iii) referral gaps and mistrust among the practitioners and (iv) dialogue formation among the practitioners. Although participants were conversant with the definition of mental illness and had interacted with a mentally ill person in their routine practice, they had basic information on the causes and types of mental illness. Traditional and faith healers felt demeaned by the clinicians who disregarded their mode of treatment stereotyping them as “dirty”. After various discussions, majority of practitioners showed interest in collaborating with each other and stated that they had joined the dialogue in order interact with people committed to improving the lives of patients.ConclusionDialogue formation between the formal and the informal health workers is crucial in establishing trust and respect between both practitioners and in improving mental health care in Kenya. This approach could be scaled up among all the registered traditional and faith healers in Kenya.

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“…The education level correlates with stigmatising attitudes, whilst people with higher education tend to keep less social distance towards PwMHD, or their relatives [26,28,33]. People with less knowledge show higher social distance [6,20,27,29,35,36,39,44,46]. Those attitudes and perceptions, especially being afraid of having conversations with PwMHD or believing that the presence of PwMHD might pose a risk to unaffected people, is observed to strengthen social isolation [25,28,29].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Awareness challenges of mental health disorder and dementia facing stigmatisation and discrimination: a systematic literature review from Sub-Sahara Africa

Spittel¹,

Maier²,

Kraus³

2019

Journal of Global Health

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BackgroundMental health disorders (MHD) are leading causes of disabilities. Awareness of MHD in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is crucial to both health care professionals and general community if those affected by MHD are to be allowed to live in dignity and be socially included, rather than being treated as outcasts or witches, as is presently the case. Therefore, this review aims to map and summarise the extent to which awareness of MHD and dementia in SSA challenges stigmatisation issues.MethodsA systematic review was conducted using electronic databases (PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO). A content analysis of selected studies was performed. Findings on awareness challenges and stigmatisation were identified and categorised.ResultsA total of 230 publications were screened, 25 were selected for this review. The results demonstrate strong supernatural beliefs influencing peoples’ perceptions of diseases. These perceptions promote stigmatising attitudes towards people with MHD and dementia. The education level correlated with stigmatising attitudes, whereby higher educated people were less likely to distance themselves socially from people with MHD and from people living with dementia (PwD). Astonishingly, even people educated in health issues (eg, nurses, medical practitioners) tended to have strong beliefs in supernatural causations of diseases, like witchcraft, and hold negative attitudes towards MHD and PwD.ConclusionsThis review provides some evidence on the influence of traditional beliefs on MHDs in SSA. Those beliefs are powerful and exist in all segments in SSA-communities, promoting superstitious perceptions on diseases and stigmatisation. Awareness and education campaigns on MHD are absolutely mandatory to reduce stigmatisation.

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Perceptions of mental illness among Muslim general practitioners in South Africa

Cited by 19 publications

References 15 publications

Mental health literacy among pediatric hospital staff in the United Arab Emirates

Mental health literacy among pediatric hospital staff in the United Arab Emirates

Forming a joint dialogue among faith healers, traditional healers and formal health workers in mental health in a Kenyan setting: towards common grounds

Awareness challenges of mental health disorder and dementia facing stigmatisation and discrimination: a systematic literature review from Sub-Sahara Africa

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