Community leaders' attitudes towards and perceptions of suicide and suicide prevention in Ghana

Osafo, Joseph, Akotia, Charity S., Quarshie, Emmanuel Nii-Boye, Andoh-Arthur, Johnny and Boakye, Kofi E. (2019) Community leaders' attitudes towards and perceptions of suicide and suicide prevention in Ghana. Transcultural Psychiatry, 56 (3). pp. 529-551. ISSN 1363-4615

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Abstract

Community leaders can play an important role in suicide prevention because they are potential gatekeepers in resource-poor settings. To investigate their attitudes towards suicide and the role they play when people are in suicidal crisis, 10 community leaders were interviewed in a rural community in Ghana. Thematic Analysis of the interviews showed that leaders held two conflicting views about suicide: health crisis and moral taboo. They also viewed the reasons for suicide as psychosocial strains more than psychiatric factors. Though they viewed suicide as a moral taboo, they maintained a more neutral position in their gatekeeping role: providing support for persons in suicidal crisis more often than exerting a condemnatory attitude. Implications for gatekeeper training are discussed.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Keywords:	attitudes toward suicide, community leaders, gatekeepers, Ghana, suicide prevention
Faculty:	Faculty of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
Depositing User:	Ian Walker
Date Deposited:	25 Jun 2019 16:00
Last Modified:	10 Feb 2022 17:01
URI:	https://arro.anglia.ac.uk/id/eprint/704470

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