CDS/CDRP monthly seminar

This seminar is run monthly as a joint initiative of the Centre for Disability Studies and the Centre for Disability Research and Policy, University of Sydney.

This month's CDS/CDRP seminar will welcome Dr Eric Badu Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Centre for Disability Studies with a talk focussing on :"Pathways to mental health treatment: biomedical versus faith-healing"

Abstract

The clinical pathways for treating mental illness have received global attention. Empirical evidence is increasing on mental health service provision. However, limited attention is given to the pathways to mental health treatment. This presentation explores from the perspective of consumers and mental health professionals the pathways used to treat mental illness in Ghana. The presentation draws lessons from a larger mixed method design, utilising both qualitative and quantitative approach. Specifically, the presentation focuses on the qualitative component involving 30 mental health professionals and 21 consumers of mental health services. The findings showed that mental illnesses in the study setting are treated using a mixture of biomedical, faith based and traditional healing services. Faith and traditional healing pathways are typically used as a preliminary source or first point of care before seeking biomedical treatment. The desire for faith-based services has resulted in increasing call for collaboration among providers of biomedical, faith and traditional healing services. Implication of this findings for disability studies research and education is discussed.

Keywords: Mental illness, Treatment, Healing, Faith, Traditional, biomedical

Bio

Dr Eric Badu does research focusing on mental health, disability, quality improvement, resilience, psychometric testing and research methodologies. Eric has several years of teaching and research experience in mental health research, cross-cultural psychology, research methodologies, psychometric testing, disability studies, consumer outcome research, systematic reviews and health service research.