Stakeholder Perspectives on Community Participation and Ownership in Community Mental Health Policy and Services: Mixed Methods Study in Ghana.

Abstract

Addressing the mental healthcare needs of the population at the Primary Health Care (PHC) level has gained global consensus as a key strategy to realising the mental health targets of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG3. This research explored the question 'What is the nature and level of community participation and ownership in the development and integration of mental healthcare service provision at the PHC, especially at Community Health Planning and Services Centre (CHPS) level(s) in Ghana?'. A cross-sectional study that adopted concurrent mixed quantitative and qualitative research methods was undertaken to explore and answer the question. The quantitative data of the study was collected through a survey questionnaire. Key informant interviews and focus group discussions were used to collect the qualitative data. Thematic analysis with the use of NVivo 12 was applied for the qualitative field data and Stata SE16 used for quantitative data. Data triangulation strategy was used to report both the qualitative and quantitative data sets. The study findings show that community participation and ownership was low, requiring more concerted efforts to engender that into mental health care policy and services development and implementation to realise the seamless integration of mental healthcare into general healthcare at the PHC level. Community participation and ownership will substantially enhance the (re-)organisation and resourcing of mental health services in Ghana to make them more responsive and inclusive.