Mental health research in Ghana: a literature review.

CONTEXT/BACKGROUND:Mental health is a neglected area in health care in Ghana. With few clinicians and trained researchers in the field, research has been limited both in quantity and quality. METHOD:A search of the available literature revealed 98 articles published between 1955 and 2009. Sixty-six are reviewed in this paper. RESULTS:Topics covered included hospital and community-based prevalence studies, psychosis, depression, substance misuse, self-harm, and help-seeking. Much of the research was small in scale and thus largely speculative in its conclusions. Epidemiological data is scarce and unreliable and no large-scale studies have been published. There are very few studies of clinical practice in mental health. CONCLUSIONS:The existing literature suggests several important areas for future research to inform the development of targeted and effective interventions in mental health care in Ghana.