Public perceptions, explanatory models and service utilisation regarding mental illness and mental health care in Kenya

Abstract

The degree to which the mental health services are utilized depends partly on the public’s views about mental illness and the public’s perceptions about the roles of the providers of the services. Therefore, effective implementation of Kenya’s mental health policy during the 1990s was likely to be influenced in some degree by how far it was compatible with the public’s concepts of mental illness. The aim of this study was thus to explore the conceptual model underlying the views of the Kenyan public about mental illness and relate it to the national mental health policy of 1994. A household survey was conducted using a Key Informant Interview schedule. Results showed that the public subscribed to a biopsychosocial view of mental illness and health care, which was indeed compatible with the mental health policy, which was rooted in the concepts of Primary Health Care, as articulated at Alma Ata. However, the public did not expect biopsychosocial care from the health services, but rather only the biological/pharmacological component, relying on other care providers for psychosocial management. This discrepancy could have impeded the implementation of the 1994 policy.