Role of traditional healers in the pathway to care of patients with schizophrenia in Egypt

• Published in: International journal of social psychiatry 2020-06, Vol.66 (4), p.382-388
• Main Authors: Ibrahim Awaad, Mona, Mohsen Ibrahim, Nesreen, Naguib, Rehab Mohamed, Khalil, Sherien Ahmed, Elhabiby, Mahmoud, Khaled Mohamed, Zainab
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acceptance; Access; Adolescent; Adult; Affordability; Attitude to Health; Clinical interviews; Delusions; Delusions - epidemiology; Egypt; Faith healing; Faith Healing - statistics & numerical data; Female; Hallucinations; Hallucinations - epidemiology; Humans; Male; Medical diagnosis; Medical prognosis; Medicine, Arabic; Middle Aged; Patient Acceptance of Health Care - psychology; Patient Acceptance of Health Care - statistics & numerical data; Patients; Psychiatric symptoms; Religious beliefs; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenia - therapy; Schizophrenic Psychology; Sociodemographics; Suffering; Surveys and Questionnaires; Traditional healers; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0020-7640; 1741-2854
• DOI: 10.1177/0020764020910456

Background: Traditional healers are considered one of the important stages in the pathway to care of schizophrenia patients because of the confidence in the system, affordability and accessibility of the service, exposing patients to hazardous management, delay in seeking psychiatric help and bad prognosis. Aim: To assess the pathway to care of schizophrenia patients and role of traditional healers into it, the sociodemographic and clinical correlates of those patients. Methods: We assessed 232 patients with schizophrenia after confirmation of diagnosis with Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorder (SCID-I) research version using a questionnaire designed by authors to assess help seeking behavior in schizophrenia patients and its sociodemographic and clinical correlates. Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale to identify the presence and severity of symptoms. Results: A total of 41.8% sought traditional healers first, 58.1% sought a psychiatric consultation first, main symptoms related to traditional healers seeking were hallucinations in 51.5%, delusions 29.9%, 9.28% bizarre behavior and 9.28% formal though disorder. Main causes of traditional healers’ preference were society acceptance 30.39%, affordability 24.74% and accessibility 16.49%. Conclusion: This study shows that a significant percentage of the patients suffering from schizophrenia prefer to approach faith healers first due to their own beliefs, society acceptance, affordability and easy accessibility.