Attitudes toward professional mental health care in Ghana: the role of education, knowledge, and stigma

Objective: Mental health help-seeking attitudes are shaped by multiple barriers, including stigma, attitudes towards professional care, sociodemographic characteristics, and familiarity with mental illness. Untreated mental health issues can have significant detrimental effects on individuals and society. While mental health care has progressed in Ghana, help-seeking has historically been led by traditional healers, spiritualists, and family members rather than professional providers, an approach that may be associated with poorer health outcomes. This study examined help-seeking attitudes and their relationship to demographics, health literacy, and mental health beliefs.Method: A total of 676 adults were recruited from public spaces in Accra and Tamale by a multiethnic, bilingual research team. Participants completed an anonymous Qualtrics survey available in English, Dagbani, or Twi, which included standardized measures and non-identifying demographic questions. Descriptive statistics, bivariate analyses, and a structural regression analysis were conducted using IBM SPSS and Amos.Results: The final regression model, which included gender, educational level, mental health knowledge, and self-stigma, explained 30.2% of the variance in attitudes towards professional help-seeking. Females and individuals with a greater mental health knowledge and lower self-stigma were more likely to endorse positive attitudes towards seeking professional care. In contrast, lower levels of education were associated with less favorable help-seeking attitudes.Discussion: Findings contribute to global health promotion by identifying culturally relevant factors that shape access to mental health care and informing strategies to improve health equity in low-resource settings. Implications for mental health practice, policy, and future research are discussed.