This research report is submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand,
Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Medicine in the
branch of Psychiatry. / AIM: To describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of a group of patients of Xhosa ethnicity
diagnosed with schizophrenia. To also determine the prevalence of their consultations with a traditional
healer as well as the factors associated with an increased likelihood of such consultations.
METHOD: The study was a review of a database originally compiled as part of an ongoing genetic
study. Patients on the database were all of Xhosa ethnicity, with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and had
all been recruited from community clinics and psychiatric hospitals in the Cape Town Metropole region.
RESULTS: Data was extracted and analysed for 92 patients, who met the criteria for inclusion in this
study. The majority of the patients were male (77.2%), single (88%) and unemployed (96%). The mean
duration of illness was 20.5 years and the mean number of hospital admissions for their mental illness
was 2.4. Close to half (43.5%) of the patients reported being non-compliant on their medication. Ten
percent admitted to making one or more suicide attempts in their lifetime. Nicotine was the most
commonly used substance (69.6%) followed by alcohol (55.4%), cannabis (37%) and
methamphetamines (9.8%).
Thirty eight percent of the patients reported having a traditional healer in their family. Twenty two
percent had consulted with a traditional healer. In the bivariate analysis the following factors were
significantly associated with consulting a traditional healer: having two or less psychiatric admissions
(p=0.014); compliance on medication (p=0,012); and having a traditional healer in the family
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(p=0.005). When controlling for age, sex and marital status only having a traditional healer in the
family was significantly associated with consulting traditional healer (p=0.011).
CONCLUSIONS: This study found that a high proportion of the participants had consulted a traditional
healer. This was significantly associated with having a traditional healer as a family member. It is
recommended that programmes, to improve the mutual understanding and co-operation between
Western practitioners and traditional healers and consequently mental health outcomes, need to be
developed and implemented.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/19471 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Sutherland, T |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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