Stakeholder's perceptions of help-seeking behaviour among people with mental health problems in Uganda

Abstract

IntroductionMental health facilities in Uganda remain underutilized, despite efforts to decentralize the services. One of the possible explanations for this is the help-seeking behaviours of people with mental health problems. Unfortunately little is known about the factors that influence the help-seeking behaviours. Delays in seeking proper treatment are known to compromise the outcome of the care.AimTo examine the help-seeking behaviours of individuals with mental health problems, and the factors that may influence such behaviours in Uganda.MethodSixty-two interviews and six focus groups were conducted with stakeholders drawn from national and district levels. Thematic analysis of the data was conducted using a framework analysis approach.ResultsThe findings revealed that in some Ugandan communities, help is mostly sought from traditional healers initially, whereas western form of care is usually considered as a last resort. The factors found to influence help-seeking behaviour within the community include: beliefs about the causes of mental illness, the nature of service delivery, accessibility and cost, stigma.ConclusionIncreasing the uptake of mental health services requires dedicating more human and financial resources to conventional mental health services. Better understanding of socio-cultural factors that may influence accessibility, engagement and collaboration with traditional healers and conventional practitioners is also urgently required.

Traditional and religious healers in the pathway to care for people with mental disorders in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…In many regions, particularly remote rural areas, health services are simply not available. Where services are available, the cost of traveling to clinics or hospitals, consultation and treatment fees, long queues, professional staff shortages, and lack of mental health capacity within general health services all become barriers to accessing appropriate care [33, 37–39]. Against this backdrop, and given that traditional and religious explanatory belief systems and practices predominate in many LMIC regions, including Africa, it is thus understandable that causal attributions related to mental health symptoms often lead individuals and their families to traditional and spiritual/faith healers as their first port of call on the help-seeking pathway.…”

“…There is substantial evidence that stigma surrounding mental health conditions and mental health services are a considerable barrier for many individuals seeking care [26, 30, 39]. On the contrary, approaching traditional and religious healers is commonplace and usually devoid of stigma within African communities.…”

Community Perception towards Mental Illness among Residents of Gimbi Town, Western Ethiopia

“…Most of the society's perception and attitude towards mental illness are far from the scientific view and this may negatively affect treatment seeking and adherence [7, 8]. …”

“…Studies done in different areas have shown that poor perception towards the mentally ill is mainly deep rooted with various sociodemographic and other factors [7, 8, 10, 13–18]. …”

A rapid screening tool for psychological distress in children 3–6years old: results of a validation study

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