The Ghana Project in Psychiatry - Mental Health Professionals´ Perception of the Burden of Mental Disorders, a Systematic Description of Mental Health Services and Diagnostic Practice

In the context of traditional Ghana, mental health has been a neglected field of health service. However, mental disorders have shown to be among the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the population. Concrete and reliable population-based data on mental disorders and research focusing on mental health is lacking. A cross-sectional study was conducted that aims to provide information about the current burden of mental disorders, information about mental health services, and interventions aimed at improving mental health services in Ghana. The study included mental health professionals who were purposively selected from six hospitals in Ghana. Two psychiatric hospitals were included to allow for studying subjects solely from a psychiatric hospital. Both studies included 42 informants. The studies used structured questionnaire for data collection.