Ghanaian Men Living with Sexual Transmitted Infections: Knowledge and Impact on Treatment Seeking Behaviour- A Qualitative Study.

Ghanaian Men Living with Sexual Transmitted Infections: Knowledge and Impact on Treatment Seeking Behaviour- A Qualitative Study. Afr J Reprod Health. 2018 Sep;22(3):24-32 Authors: Azu MN, Richter S, Aniteye P Abstract The purpose of the study was to explore Ghanaian men's knowledge about sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and their treatment seeking behaviour. An exploratory descriptive design was used. The research site for this study was a STI clinic at a large government hospital in the Ashanti region in central Ghana. Purposive sampling was used to recruit men diagnosed with or previously infected with STI/HIV attending the clinic. Twelve participants were interviewed, and the data was thematically analysed. The findings were presented as themes: knowledge of STI, misconception, health seeking behaviour: visiting the hospital, buying drugs, using herbal treatment, visiting the traditional healer, and -shopping for health‖. Participants had good knowledge of the causes and/or mode of transmission of STIs/HIV. Their source of information was the radio, friends and education at the STIs/HIV unit of the hospital. Participants had little knowledge about the STIs/HIV treatment options before they received health education from the personnel at the STI/HIV unit. Participants had fallacies and believed they developed STIs/HIV infection because of a curse or someone who wanted them dead or bewitched them. The overarching reason for...
Source: African Journal of Reproductive Health - Category: African Health Tags: Afr J Reprod Health Source Type: research