MENTAL HEALTH UNIT

The Mental Health Unit has four full-time staff made up of a psychiatrist, two psychologists, and a field worker. Dr VCK Doku, is the Psychiatrist, Epidemiologist, Research Fellow, Bright Akpalu Clinical Psychology, Benedict Weobong (Msc Psychiatric epidemiology), and Kenneth Ae-Ngibise Asaya Psychology graduate. Collaborating institutions: Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College, London, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, Department of Psychiatry, University of Ghana Medical School, Bureau of Ghana Languages, and the Department of Linguistics, University of Ghana.

Research activities over the period

The year under review recorded the continuation and completion of the Schizophrenia project. As a reminder, the project started in 2002, with training of field research workers in the identification and referral of potential cases of mental ill health. This activity culminated in the establishment of the Kintampo Population-based Psychiatric Case Register (KPCR). The mental illness of interest to the project; psychosis was purposively sampled from the population based KPCR. Potential cases of psychosis were screened for eligibility for the study and their consent sought. Case assessment tools such as the SCAN, SEMI, CAUSE, CUES, WHO-DAS II were administered to 110 potential cases and 220 controls. Other assessment tools such as the CAREGIVER BURDEN INTERVIEW (CGI) and the INDEPTH HEALTH EQUITY TOOL were administered to caregivers of potential cases and cases/controls respectively.

By the end of the year under review the following were recorded on the Schizophrenia study: 117 completed SCAN interviews and 120 completed CGI’s.

It was projected that an additional 3 months of data collection would be enough to achieve the set targets.

Objectives

To investigate and describe the unmet need of individuals with schizophrenia in the general population as against those in the hospital setting.

To describe the explanatory models of disease causation among individuals suffering from schizophrenia, and To test the hypothesis that cannabis use is a risk factor of schizophrenia. The study will inform the provision of psychiatric services for individuals with schizophrenia in Ghana, as well as determine whether important risk factors for schizophrenia in individuals of West African descent in the UK are also important in Ghana.

Sponsor of project:

Contact: Dr. Victor Doku
Email: v.doku@iop.kcl.ac.uk