Cargando…

Mental health service utilization in a low resource setting: A qualitative study on perspectives of health professionals in Northwest Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Mental health services are advocated to move from specialized care to more integrated and accessible primary care settings. The integration of mental health into primary health services is expanding in Ethiopia. However, there is a lack of research on the perspectives of health professio...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Mekonen, Tesfa, Chan, Gary C. K., Belete, Tilahun, Menberu, Melak, Davidson, Lily, Hides, Leanne, Leung, Janni
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9704635/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36441695
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0278106
_version_ 1784840094471946240
author Mekonen, Tesfa
Chan, Gary C. K.
Belete, Tilahun
Menberu, Melak
Davidson, Lily
Hides, Leanne
Leung, Janni
author_facet Mekonen, Tesfa
Chan, Gary C. K.
Belete, Tilahun
Menberu, Melak
Davidson, Lily
Hides, Leanne
Leung, Janni
author_sort Mekonen, Tesfa
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Mental health services are advocated to move from specialized care to more integrated and accessible primary care settings. The integration of mental health into primary health services is expanding in Ethiopia. However, there is a lack of research on the perspectives of health professionals on mental health services in Ethiopia. This study aimed to explore the perspectives, views, and experiences of health professionals regarding mental health services and the help-seeking behavior of people with mental illness in Northwest Ethiopia. METHODS: This qualitative study included sixteen health professionals. The participants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. Interviews were conducted in Amharic and translated into English. We analyzed the data using reflexive thematic analysis. RESULTS: Five key themes were generated from the interview data: (1) Avoidance of mental healthcare; (2) Low literacy about mental illness; (3) Stigma as a hindrance to accessing mental health services; (4) The role of culture and religion in mental health services; and (5) Lack of government concern about mental health services. CONCLUSION: This study identified important factors related to mental health services in Northwest Ethiopia, from the perspectives of health professionals. Our findings highlighted that the government health agenda needs to prioritize mental health services. The role of religious and cultural healing places in the help-seeking pathway should be given due consideration to ensure success in mental health services provision and utilization.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9704635
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-97046352022-11-29 Mental health service utilization in a low resource setting: A qualitative study on perspectives of health professionals in Northwest Ethiopia Mekonen, Tesfa Chan, Gary C. K. Belete, Tilahun Menberu, Melak Davidson, Lily Hides, Leanne Leung, Janni PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Mental health services are advocated to move from specialized care to more integrated and accessible primary care settings. The integration of mental health into primary health services is expanding in Ethiopia. However, there is a lack of research on the perspectives of health professionals on mental health services in Ethiopia. This study aimed to explore the perspectives, views, and experiences of health professionals regarding mental health services and the help-seeking behavior of people with mental illness in Northwest Ethiopia. METHODS: This qualitative study included sixteen health professionals. The participants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. Interviews were conducted in Amharic and translated into English. We analyzed the data using reflexive thematic analysis. RESULTS: Five key themes were generated from the interview data: (1) Avoidance of mental healthcare; (2) Low literacy about mental illness; (3) Stigma as a hindrance to accessing mental health services; (4) The role of culture and religion in mental health services; and (5) Lack of government concern about mental health services. CONCLUSION: This study identified important factors related to mental health services in Northwest Ethiopia, from the perspectives of health professionals. Our findings highlighted that the government health agenda needs to prioritize mental health services. The role of religious and cultural healing places in the help-seeking pathway should be given due consideration to ensure success in mental health services provision and utilization. Public Library of Science 2022-11-28 /pmc/articles/PMC9704635/ /pubmed/36441695 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0278106 Text en © 2022 Mekonen et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Mekonen, Tesfa
Chan, Gary C. K.
Belete, Tilahun
Menberu, Melak
Davidson, Lily
Hides, Leanne
Leung, Janni
Mental health service utilization in a low resource setting: A qualitative study on perspectives of health professionals in Northwest Ethiopia
title Mental health service utilization in a low resource setting: A qualitative study on perspectives of health professionals in Northwest Ethiopia
title_full Mental health service utilization in a low resource setting: A qualitative study on perspectives of health professionals in Northwest Ethiopia
title_fullStr Mental health service utilization in a low resource setting: A qualitative study on perspectives of health professionals in Northwest Ethiopia
title_full_unstemmed Mental health service utilization in a low resource setting: A qualitative study on perspectives of health professionals in Northwest Ethiopia
title_short Mental health service utilization in a low resource setting: A qualitative study on perspectives of health professionals in Northwest Ethiopia
title_sort mental health service utilization in a low resource setting: a qualitative study on perspectives of health professionals in northwest ethiopia
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9704635/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36441695
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0278106
work_keys_str_mv AT mekonentesfa mentalhealthserviceutilizationinalowresourcesettingaqualitativestudyonperspectivesofhealthprofessionalsinnorthwestethiopia
AT changaryck mentalhealthserviceutilizationinalowresourcesettingaqualitativestudyonperspectivesofhealthprofessionalsinnorthwestethiopia
AT beletetilahun mentalhealthserviceutilizationinalowresourcesettingaqualitativestudyonperspectivesofhealthprofessionalsinnorthwestethiopia
AT menberumelak mentalhealthserviceutilizationinalowresourcesettingaqualitativestudyonperspectivesofhealthprofessionalsinnorthwestethiopia
AT davidsonlily mentalhealthserviceutilizationinalowresourcesettingaqualitativestudyonperspectivesofhealthprofessionalsinnorthwestethiopia
AT hidesleanne mentalhealthserviceutilizationinalowresourcesettingaqualitativestudyonperspectivesofhealthprofessionalsinnorthwestethiopia
AT leungjanni mentalhealthserviceutilizationinalowresourcesettingaqualitativestudyonperspectivesofhealthprofessionalsinnorthwestethiopia