Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-30-2019
Publication Title
Pan African Medical Journal
DOI
10.11604/pamj.2019.34.214.12851
ISSN
1937- 8688
Abstract
Introduction: substance abuse is an important public health issue affecting West Africa; however, there is currently a dearth of literature on the actions needed to address it. The aim of this study was to assess the risks and protective factors of substance abuse in Ghana, West Africa, using the photovoice method.
Methods: this study recruited and trained 10 participants in recovery from substance abuse and undergoing treatment in the greater Accra region of Ghana on the photovoice methodology. Each participant received a disposable camera to take pictures that represented the risk and protective factors pertinent to substance abuse in their communities. They were also given the opportunity to provide narratives of the pictures using pre-identified themes and the different levels of the social-ecological model and participatory action research (PAR).
Results: participants identified at the individual level: ignorance; interpersonal level: family and peer pressure; organizational level: lack of regulation; community level: media, availability of drugs, cost of drugs, urbanization, slum communities and cultural factors; and policy level: lack of regulations and their enforcement. Education and beliefs were cited at the individual level; family at the interpersonal level; religion at the organizational level; organizing youth, media and narcotics anonymous at the community level; and nothing at the policy level.
Conclusion: this is an exploratory study that will add to the limited body of knowledge in the scientific literature with respect to substance abuse in the country and also help develop interventions to address the respective needs of several communities in Ghana.
Recommended Citation
Kabore, Ahmed, Evans Afriyie-Gyawu, James Awuah, Andrew R. Hansen, Ashley Walker, Melissa Hester, Moussa Aziz Wonadé Sié, Dhruv Medarametla, Nicolas Meda.
2019.
"Social Ecological Factors Affecting Substance Abuse in Ghana (West Africa) Using Photovoice."
Pan African Medical Journal, 34 (214): African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET).
doi: 10.11604/pamj.2019.34.214.12851 source: https://www.panafrican-med-journal.com/content/article/34/214/full/
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/bee-facpubs/278
Comments
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.