Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T22:48:42.820Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Modern or Traditional? A Study of Treatment Preference for Neuropsychiatric Disorders in Botswana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Jeremy R. Dale  and
David I. Ben-Tovim
Jeremy R. Dale
Affiliation:
Middlesex Hospital Medical School, London
David I. Ben-Tovim*
Affiliation:
Jubilee Hospital, Francistown, Botswana
*
∗Correspondence: Current address—Department of Psychiatry, Flinders University of South Australia, Bedford Park, South Australia 5042.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Subjects in Botswana were asked to state their preference between modern (doctor or nurse) or indigenous (traditional or religious healer) care for three case vignettes of epilepsy, psychosis, and tuberculosis. Nurses, medical patients, and a general village population were studied. Many subjects preferred modern care for all disorders, whilst a small number favoured indigenous treatment only. A significant percentage discriminated between disorders, choosing indigenous care for some and modern for others. Indigenous care was most favoured for epilepsy, and least for tuberculosis. Psychosis took an intermediate position. The size of the discriminating group varied between populations, but the overall pattern of attitudes remained the same. Neither demographic factors nor aetiological beliefs consistently identified those who choose indigenous care.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 145 , Issue 2 , August 1984 , pp. 187 - 192
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1984 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ben Tovim, D. I. (1983) A psychiatric services to the remote area of Botswana. British Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 199–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ben Tovim, D. I. & Kundu, P. (1982) Integration of psychiatric care with primary health care. Lancet, ii, 757.Google Scholar
Central Statistical Office (1982) A Draft Guide to the Villages of Botswana. Gaborone: Government Printer.Google Scholar
Giel, R. & Harding, T. W. (1976) Psychiatric priorities in developing countries. British Journal of Psychiatry, 128, 513–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harding, T. W. (1973) Psychosis in a rural West African community. Social Psychiatry, 8, 198–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jilek, W. G. (1971) From crazy witchdoctor to auxiliary psychotherapist. The changing image of the medicine man. Psychiatrica Clinica, 4, 200–20.Google Scholar
Kapur, R. L. (1975) Mental health care in rural India: A study of existing patterns and their implications for future policy. British Journal of Psychiatry, 127, 286–93.Google Scholar
Leff, J. (1975) Exotic treatments and Western psychiatry. Psychological Medicine, 5, 125–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lin, T-Y. (1983) Mental health in the Third World. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 171, 71–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ministry of Health. (1980) Annual Report 1978/79. Gaborone: Government Printer.Google Scholar
Orley, J. & Leff, J. P. (1972) The effect of psychiatric education on attitudes to illness among the Ganda. British Journal of Psychiatry, 121, 137–41.Google Scholar
Schapera, I. (1976) Ethnographic survey of Africa, Southern Africa, Part III. The Tswana. London: International African Institute.Google Scholar
Siegel, S. (1956) Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioural Sciences. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Staugard, F. (1981) Traditional Medicine in Rural Botswana. Thesis, The Nordic School of Public Health, Sweden.Google Scholar
West, M. (1975) Bishops and Prophets in a Black City. Cape Town: David Philip.Google Scholar
World Health Organisation. (1975) Organisation of Mental Health Services in Developing Countries. Sixteenth Report of the WHO Expert Committee on Mental Health. Technical Report Series No. 564. Geneva: World Health Organisation.Google Scholar
Wig, N. N., Suleiman, M. A., Routledge, R., Murthy, S. R., Ladrido-Ignacio, L., Ibrahim, H. H. A. & Harding, T. W. (1980) Community reactions to mental disorders. A key informant study in three developing countries. Acta Psychiatricia Scandinavica, 61, 111–26.Google ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.