Sociocultural considerations of mental health care and help-seeking in Uganda

Ronald Asiimwe; Racheal D. Nuwagaba-K; Lekie Dwanyen; Rosco Kasujja

doi:10.1016/j.ssmmh.2023.100232

Sociocultural considerations of mental health care and help-seeking in Uganda

Ronald Asiimwe, Racheal D. Nuwagaba-K, Lekie Dwanyen, Rosco Kasujja

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Sociocultural factors largely shape how communities conceptualize, express, and respond to mental and relational health problems. This paper reviews and summarizes literature on mental health in Uganda, with specific attention to Uganda's mental health policy, relevant sociocultural idioms of distress, and considerations. We include a discussion on stigma, as one key response to mental and relational health problems in Uganda. Further, we use clinical examples from Uganda to describe salient and common sociocultural idioms of distress that shape how Ugandans experience and express various mental health problems, and subsequent help-seeking behaviors. We end with a discussion by offering implications for sociocultural experiences and considerations to improve mental health service delivery in Uganda.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	100232
Journal	SSM - Mental Health
Volume	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmmh.2023.100232
State	Published - Dec 15 2023
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors

Keywords

Mental health
Socio-cultural considerations
Stigma
Uganda

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10.1016/j.ssmmh.2023.100232

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AU - Kasujja, Rosco

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AB - Sociocultural factors largely shape how communities conceptualize, express, and respond to mental and relational health problems. This paper reviews and summarizes literature on mental health in Uganda, with specific attention to Uganda's mental health policy, relevant sociocultural idioms of distress, and considerations. We include a discussion on stigma, as one key response to mental and relational health problems in Uganda. Further, we use clinical examples from Uganda to describe salient and common sociocultural idioms of distress that shape how Ugandans experience and express various mental health problems, and subsequent help-seeking behaviors. We end with a discussion by offering implications for sociocultural experiences and considerations to improve mental health service delivery in Uganda.

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Sociocultural considerations of mental health care and help-seeking in Uganda

Abstract

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