AUTHOR=Gyaase Daniel , Gyaase Theresah Ivy , Tawiah Rebecca , Atta-Osei Godfred , Owusu Isaac , Mprah Wisdom Kwadwo , Enuameh Yeetey Akpe 

TITLE=Perceived causes and management of epilepsy among rural community dwellers in Ghana: a qualitative synthesis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology

VOLUME=Volume 14 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2023.1230336

DOI=10.3389/fneur.2023.1230336

ISSN=1664-2295

ABSTRACT=Background: In Ghana, over 270,000 people live with epilepsy, of which 70% do not receive treatment. Despite the high number of people with the condition, misconceptions exist about its causes and management in African regions. The study assessed the perceived causes and management of epilepsy among rural community dwellers in Ghana.Methods: Qualitative approach and phenomenological design were employed for the study. The population was community dwellers in Berekum, a rural town in the Bono Region of Ghana. A convenience sampling technique was used to sample the participants. An in-depth face-to-face interview with a semi-structured interview guide was used to collect participant data. Data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis.Result: A total of 15 participants were interviewed in the study, after which saturation was reached. Seven (7) of the participants were males, and eight (8) were females. Two categories emerged as the causes of epilepsy, which are socio-cultural and superstitious causes and biomedical causes. The socio-cultural and superstitious include "a manifestation or an influence of an evil spirit", "family curse or disease", "punishment from ancestors or gods of the land", "having several convulsions", "exposure to foam from an epileptic", and "bites from an epileptic during seizures" whiles the biomedical causes are "brain damage" "blood group" and "genetic makeup".Consultation from the spiritual realm, pouring water on the person or washing the person's face, and putting a spoon in the mouth were identified by participants as the management of epilepsy.The causes of epilepsy are primarily linked to the supernatural, with the results indicating that rural community residents largely attribute epilepsy to "evil spirits". This implies that the rural communities' knowledge about the causes of epilepsy is based on the social causation theory of disease and disability, which relates diseases to the supernatural. Management of the condition was mainly seen as spiritual.