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Religious leaders play a key role in providing support to persons in mental health crisis. The aim of this study is to examine how religious leaders in the Ga Municipal District of Ghana perceive their role in the prevention of suicide in their community and the kinds of help they provide to persons in suicidal crisis. A semi-structured interview guide was used to gather data from 28 religious leaders. Thematic analysis of the transcribed data showed that religious leaders perceive their role in suicide prevention as frontliners with a caring obligation to help suicidal persons because of the possible loss of a life. Further, when religious leaders interact with suicidal persons, they create healing communities, provide lay counseling, provide referrals to mental health professionals, offer prayer and deliverance, provide social support, and induce hope in such persons. Implications for interprofessional collaboration and gatekeeper training for religious leaders in Ghana are addressed.

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.

Media reporting of suicide has attracted attention globally because it has the potential to trigger copycat suicides. The absence of a national policy on suicide prevention in Ghana has left the media landscape with uncensored publication of suicide stories. The aim of this study was to examine the views of media editors on suicide and the considerations that guide them in publishing suicide stories in the country. Fourteen media reporters and editors (10 males, 4 females) from three major media houses in Accra, the capital, between the ages of 26–48 participated in semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis of the results showed that considerations for publishing suicide stories included deterrence, didacticism, celebritism, and ethics. These considerations generally reflect the doubled-edged role of the media in suicide prevention: on the one hand, the media is a partner in public health education; but on the other hand, the media’s activities can be deleterious to all preventive efforts in public health education on suicide. Implications for gatekeeper training for media personnel in suicide prevention in Ghana are addressed.

The cultural context in which suicide occurs has been emphasized as critical in understanding the act and informing prevention. Yet the penchant of psychiatrizing suicidality in mainstream suicidology relegates cultural issues to the background. Through the lenses of critical cultural suicidology, the authors have re-emphasized the importance of culture by reviewing the two major meanings of suicide as observed in our 8-year study in Ghana: moral transgression and life crisis. They have also showed the usefulness of the life crisis perspective of suicidality in reducing stigma and sustaining advocacy in decriminalizing attempted suicide in the country.

Background Negative attitudes of health professionals towards suicide may hamper their willingness and skills to work with attempt survivors. Objective The purpose of this study was to explore the attitudes of physicians and nurses towards suicide and the suicidal patient. Methods A semi-structured qualitative interview was conducted on Twenty five (25) health professionals: (15 physicians and 10 casualty nurses) from five hospitals in Accra, the capital of Ghana. Results Findings showed that while majority of physicians viewed suicide as an existential crisis, most of the nurses viewed it as a moral infraction. Three key attitudes towards suicide and the suicidal patient were observed: stable, dissonant and transitioned. The findings are discussed under three main themes: Contexts, Theorizing suicide, and Shades of attitudes. Conclusion Nurses and Physicians are key gatekeepers in suicide prevention in Ghana. Training is however, needed to improve both attitudes (especially for nurses) and competence towards suicide prevention in the country.

To understand the experiences of suicidal persons in Ghana, 10 persons were interviewed after they attempted suicide. Thematic analysis of data showed that motivation for suicidal behavior included social taunting, hopelessness, and partner's infidelity. Suicidal persons reported stigma expressed through physical molestation and social ostracism, which left them traumatized. However, they coped through social support from relations, religious faith, and use of avoidance. Community-wide sensitive education should target reducing stigma and also increase mental health education on suicidal behavior in Ghanaian communities.

The penal code of Ghana condemns suicide attempt. The present study sought to explore the views of the police on persons who attempt suicide and the law criminalizing the act. Qualitative in-depth interviews were used to explore the views of 18 officers of the Ghana Police Service. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis technique. Findings showed that the police officers profiled suicide attempters as needy, enigmatic, ignorant, and blameworthy. Majority (n = 14) of them disagreed with the law and suggested a repeal, whereas only four of them agreed with the law. Regardless of their positions on criminalization, they showed an inclination to help, rather than arrest, when confronted with such persons in line of their duty. Educating the police on suicidal behavior may help to deepen their understanding and help improve the way they handle suicidal persons. This may also strengthen police suicide prevention gatekeeping obligations. © The Author(s) 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

Background Ghana’s socio-cultural landscape proscribes suicidal behaviour, and this has serious ramifications for attempt survivors and their families. The objective of this qualitative study was to understand the experiences of the families of attempt survivors and how they cope with the aftermath of the attempt. Methods Ten families with attempted suicides agreed to participate in the study, hence they were interviewed. The information gathered was manually analyzed according to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) resulting in three major thematic areas. Results Three major themes emerged two of which addressed negative experiences and reactions towards the attempts: Experiencing shame and stigma, and Reactive affect. The third theme addressed the coping resources of these informants under the theme: Surviving the stress of attempt. The specific coping resources included personalized spiritual coping, social support, and avoidance. Conclusions Family systems theory is used to explain some of the findings of this study, and the implication for clinical practice and designing postvention programs for families after a suicide attempt are addressed. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12888-017-1336-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

This qualitative study examined the role played by religion in the experiences of persons who attempted suicide in Ghana. Twelve men and 18 women on admission at various hospitals and clinics in Accra were interviewed. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyse the data. We found that religion provided a broad context within which the informants' experiences could be understood. All informants acknowledged God as owner of life and death. Whereas the majority reacted to the suicidal act in a way that resonates with their religious system and sought for forgiveness from God, a few reacted in opposition to the system and expressed anger and disappointment in God. Implications of our findings for suicide prevention in Ghana are discussed.

Background One way of preventing suicide has been increasing awareness among health care professionals of their own attitudes and taboos toward suicide and its prevention. Objective The purpose of this study was to understand the attitudes of health professionals toward suicidal behavior and its prevention in Ghana. Methods A total of 17 informants (9 clinical psychologists and 8 emergency ward nurses) in an urban center were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyze the data. Results We found that the attitudes of these health workers toward suicide and suicide prevention seemed to be transiting between morality and mental health. The psychologists generally saw suicide as a mental health issue, emphasized a caring and empathic view of suicidal persons and approached suicide prevention from a health-service point of view. Mental health education and improvements in primary health care were reported as practical approaches toward suicide prevention. The nurses on the other hand, held a moralistic attitude toward suicide as a crime, viewed suicide persons as blameworthy and approached suicide prevention from a proscriptive perspective. Informal approaches such as talking to people, strengthening the legal code against suicide and threatening suicidal persons with the religious consequences of the act were also indicated as practical approaches to suicide prevention. Educational level, clinical experience with suicidal persons, and religious values, are discussed as influencing the differences in attitudes toward suicide and suicide prevention between psychologists and nurses. Conclusion Health workers in Ghana need training in suicidology to improve both knowledge and skills relevant for suicide prevention.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate attitudes toward suicide and suicide prevention among psychology students in Ghana by means of a qualitative analysis of open-ended questions about causes of suicide and how suicide best can be prevented. The students mainly saw the causes as intra-personal and almost all of them believed that suicide can be prevented. The results indicated a huge impact of religion on the attitudes toward suicide as well as some lack of distinction between their religious and professional roles and responsibilities.

Self-reported suicidal behavior and attitudes toward suicide in psychology students are reported and compared in Ghana, Uganda, and Norway. Small differences only were found in own suicidal behavior. However, experience of suicidal behavior in the surroundings was more common in Uganda than in Ghana and Norway. Although differences were found between the three countries in attitudes toward suicide, which emphasizes the need for culture-sensitive research and prevention, many of the differences were not as big as expected. The most pronounced difference was that the Norwegian students were more reluctant to take a stand on these questions compared to their African counterparts. Some differences were also found between the two African countries. The implications of the results for suicide prevention in Africa are discussed.

Adolescent suicide is now a major health concern for many countries. However, there is paucity of systematic studies and lack of official statistics on adolescent suicide in Ghana. Mass media coverage of adolescent suicide (even though crude), at least, may reflect the reality of the phenomenon. With an ecological orientation, this study used qualitative content analysis to analyse the pattern of 44 media reports of adolescent suicide in Ghana from January 2001 through September 2014. Results showed that hanging was the dominant method used. The behaviour usually takes place within or near the adolescent’s home environment. The act was often attributed to precursors within the microsystem (family and school) of the deceased. This study serves a seminal function for future empirical studies aimed at deeper examination of the phenomenon in order to inform prevention programmes.Key words: Adolescent, suicide, Ghana(Published: 25 May 2015)Citation: Int J Qualitative Stud Health Well-being 2015, 10: 27682 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/qhw.v10.27682

Background: Attempted suicide is still considered a crime in Ghana. Aims: The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes toward this law held by health workers and police officers in Ghana so as to provide culture-sensitive arguments to aid in abolishing the law. Method: Qualitative interviews were conducted with eight clinical psychologists, eight emergency ward nurses, and eight police officers. Results: The majority of informants did not agree with the law criminalizing attempted suicide in Ghana, although five of the emergency ward nurses and two police officers did. Arguments for agreeing with the law were that people have no right to take life and that the law has a deterrent effect and thus it will help reduce the suicide rate. The main argument for not agreeing with the law was that suicidal behavior is a mental health issue. Those who argued in favor of the law did not seem to reflect much on the reasons for suicidal behavior. Conclusion: Education on how to understand suicidal behavior and suicidal people may aid the work toward decriminalizing attempted suicide in Ghana.

The objective of this study was to examine psychology students' attitudes toward suicidal behaviour and the meanings they assign to the act. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 final year psychology students at a university in Ghana. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyze the data. The results indicated that the students had a generalized negative attitude toward suicide. Religious beliefs and family harmony are cultural contexts influencing the interpretation of suicidal behaviour as breach of divine and communal moralities. The implications of these meanings of suicidal behaviour for suicide prevention in Ghana are discussed.

The objective of this qualitative study was to understand how religion influences lay persons’ attitudes towards suicide in Ghana. Twenty-seven adults from both rural and urban settings were interviewed. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyse the data. Results showed that the participants are committed to core and normative religious beliefs and practices they perceived as life preserving. Such an understanding influenced their view of suicidal behaviour as unacceptable. Nevertheless, religion facilitated their willingness to help people during suicidal crisis. Religious commitment theory is used to explain some of the findings of this study. Implications for suicide prevention are discussed.

One way of furthering our understanding of suicidal behaviour is to examine people’s attitudes towards it and how they conceive the act. The aim of this study was to understand how lay persons conceive the impact of suicide on others and how that influences their attitudes towards suicide; and discuss the implications for suicide prevention in Ghana. This is a qualitative study, using a semi-structured interview guide to investigate the attitudes and views of 27 lay persons from urban and rural settings in Ghana. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings showed that the perceived breach of interrelatedness between people due to suicidal behaviour influenced the informants’ view of suicide as representing a social injury. Such view of suicide influenced the negative attitudes the informants expressed towards the act. The negative attitudes towards suicide in Ghana are cast in consequential terms. Thus, suicide is an immoral act because it socially affects others negatively. The sense of community within the African ethos and The Moral Causal Ontology for Suffering are theoretical postulations that are used to offer some explanations of the findings in this study. #2011 J. Osafo et al. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.