ArticleGlobal health action2015
Task shifting--Ghana's community mental health workers' experiences and perceptions of their roles and scope of practice.
Article in Global health action, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Community-based psychosocial interventions for people with schizophrenia in low and middle-income countries: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2017Pooled it
- Treatment Experiences of Individuals With Co-Occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders and Perspectives of Mental Health Workers in Ashanti Region, Ghana.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2026Article
- 'Mental health was always the last; always an afterthought': policy analysis of domestic financing and prioritisation for mental health in Ghana.BJPsych open · 2026Review
- Prevalence and social determinants of anxiety and depressive disorders and symptoms among adults in Ghana: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2026Review
- Exploring service user and family members' perspective and experiences of alcohol dependence treatment in tertiary care hospital: A qualitative study.Indian journal of psychiatry · 2025Article
- Factors Influencing Primary Care Access for Common Mental Health Conditions Among Adults in West Africa: Protocol for a Scoping Review.JMIR research protocols · 2024Article
- Opening up the 'black-box': what strategies do community mental health workers use to address the social dimensions of mental health?Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2024Article
- "Helping Mentally Ill, a Reward Both in this Life and After": A Qualitative Study Among Community Health Professionals in Somaliland.Community mental health journal · 2023Article
- Task Shifting and Task Sharing Implementation in Africa: A Scoping Review on Rationale and Scope.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
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- Situational analysis of service provision for adolescents with mental and neurological disorders in in two districts of Ghana.International journal of mental health systems · 2021Article
- Optimizing task-sharing in abortion care in Ghana: Stakeholder perspectives.International journal of gynaecology and obstetrics: the official organ of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics · 2020Article
- Risk factors for spontaneous preterm delivery.International journal of gynaecology and obstetrics: the official organ of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics · 2020Review
- Factors influencing medical students and psychiatry residents in Ghana to consider psychiatry as a career option - a qualitative study.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2020Article
- Rights as Relationships: Collaborating with Faith Healers in Community Mental Health in Ghana.Culture, medicine and psychiatry · 2019Article
- An integrative review of potential enablers and barriers to accessing mental health services in Ghana.Health research policy and systems · 2018Review
- Applying systems thinking to task shifting for mental health using lay providers: a review of the evidence.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2017Review
- Improving Ghana's mental healthcare through task-shifting- psychiatrists and health policy directors perceptions about government's commitment and the role of community mental health workers.Globalization and health · 2016Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBecause of the absence of adequate numbers of psychiatrists, the bulk of mental health care at the community level in Ghana is provided by community mental health workers (CMHWs).
objectiveTo examine the role and scope of practice of CMHWs in Ghana from their own perspectives and to make recommendations to improve the care they provide.
designWe conducted a cross-sectional survey of 164 CMHWs from all the 10 administrative regions of Ghana, comprising 71 (43.3%) community psychiatric nurses (CPNs), 19 (11.6%) clinical psychiatric officers (CPOs), and 74 (45.1%) community mental health officers (CMHOs).
resultsOverall, only 39 (23.8%) CMHWs worked closely with psychiatrists, 64 (39%) worked closely with social workers, 46 (28%) worked closely with psychologists and 13 (7.9%) worked closely with occupational therapists. A lower proportion of CMHOs worked closely with psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers compared with CPOs and CPNs. There was no significant difference in the proportion of the different CMHW types who expressed confidence in their ability to diagnose any of the commonly named mental health conditions except personality disorders. However, a lower proportion of CMHOs than CPOs and CPNs expressed confidence in their ability to treat all the disorders. The CMHWs ranked schizophrenia as the most frequently treated mental health condition and there was no statistically significant difference in the reported frequency with which the three groups of CMHWs treated any of the mental health conditions.
conclusionsMental health policy makers and coordinators need to thoroughly review the training curriculum and also evaluate the job descriptions of all CMHWs in Ghana to ensure that they are consistent with the demands and health-care needs of patients they care for in their communities. For example, as CMHOs and CPNs prescribe medication even though they are not expected to do so, it may be worth exploring the merits of including the prescription of common psychotropic medication in their training curriculum and job descriptions.
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