Joana Salifu Yendork

Verified

Joana verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

Learn more

Verified

Joana verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

Learn more

University of Ghana | Legon · Department of Psychology

Introduction Physical and emotional loss from amputation and associated physical disability are associated with adverse physical and psychological experiences. However, little research, within the Ghanaian context, has focused on the impact of amputation on the well‐being of amputees and their caregivers and the coping strategies they use to mitiga...

This study explored symptoms of mental illnesses of Ghanaian pastors across three denominations and ascertained associations with selected demographic variables, meaning in life and general self-efficacy. Overall, 22.9% of pastors show symptoms of mental illnesses. Participants reported symptoms of somatization (22%), obsessive compulsiveness (30.5...

Living in a stepfamily can be stressful due to several challenges that confront individuals within stepfamilies, hence adaptive coping is vital for wellbeing. Nonetheless, little research focus has been devoted to understating how individuals within stepfamilies cope with family-related distresses. Using a qualitative exploratory approach, this stu...

The Ghanaian culture is characterized by dominant heteronormative views about sexual orientation where the adolescent does not have the space to open up about their sexuality, stigma is attached to homosexuality and there are minimal avenues for socialization about sexuality. Given the research evidence of the potential for sexual identity confusio...

Introduction Child marriage is practiced widely in West and Central Africa with established links to several negative outcomes, particularly for girls. Although some reviews on predictors of the practice of child marriage exist, to date no review has focused on the costs and potential benefits to girls who have experienced child marriage. Method W...

Research on institutional child care consistently has documented detrimental developmental outcomes. However, recent work in Ghana revealed a range in patterns of adjustment among children living in institutional care. The developmental patterns of children living in institutional care often were not significantly different from patterns seen among...

Using a qualitative multi‐methods approach, this study explored the offence, survivor and perpetrator characteristics, and the lived experiences of child and adolescent survivors of child sexual abuse (CSA) in Ghana. We analysed the contents of local media reports of CSA cases from January 2015 to December 2020 in Ghana, after which we conducted se...

Marriage is ordinarily complex and challenging exerting an invariable effect on the psychological well-being of married individuals. When the spouse is a child, the effects may be much more complicated. This study explored the subjective experiences of marriage and the related psychological implications for married adolescent girls. Using purposefu...

Recent decades have seen gambling become a highly lucrative industry across sub-Saharan Africa. Fuelled by the democratisation of access to digital finance and internet technologies, this gambling boom has been concentrated in Africa�s urban economies, where expanding youth populations are increasingly connected to global circuits of sport, popular...

Largely, the effectiveness of programmes or interventions depend on adequate end user consultation or involvement right from their inception or developmental stages. While knowledge on approaches to mental health rehabilitation in Ghana is limited, evidence on family caregiver consultation for the development of intervention programmes is inadequat...

In Ghana, some persons living with mental illness end up on the street. Whereas most instances have resulted from family neglect, the paucity of effective social services to cater for neglected persons with mental health disorder persons is disturbing. The present study explored family caregivers’ perspectives on reasons why families neglect person...

Neo-Prophetic churches in Ghana are the fastest growing churches and have been highly criticised, but little is known about their teachings and potential impacts on adolescent congregants. The present study explored the content and impacts of the teachings of a Neo-Prophetic church on the well-being and character development of adolescent congregan...

How children experience forgiveness within peer relationships is unknown among children in West Africa. In this study, we sought to understand the contributing factors and influences of forgiveness among children in Ghana for peer-to-peer offenses. We conducted a qualitative study on 25 participants (between the ages of 12 and 15 years) in Accra, G...

Poverty deprives children and adolescents of good sanitation, nutrition, shelter, education, quality water, health services and negatively lead to poor physical and mental health. However, limited studies exist on the experiences of adolescents in poor urban contexts in Ghana. Using 20 adolescents from James Town, Accra, findings show adolescents l...

Social support is an important resource in old age. However, recent research shows that familial support, which used to be the primary source of care for older adults in Ghana has weakened. Using a qualitative descriptive approach and semistructured interviews, this study explored the nature and sources of social support available to 21 older adult...

Objectives Commercial gambling markets have undergone unprecedented expansion and diversification in territories across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This gambling boom has popularised the uptake of gambling products in existing circuits of popular culture, sport and leisure and raised concerns about the extent to which state legislation is equipped to...

The advent of Covid-19 changed how education is carried out at the tertiary level in Ghana. Despite the lunch of emergency remote teaching at the University of Ghana in 2020, little research has been done on students’ experiences. Using a qualitative descriptive design, this study explored students’ experiences regarding the benefits, challenges, a...

Coping resources play a critical role in parents’ recovery from the trauma associated with child loss. In Ghana, little is known about how parents cope with child loss despite the relatively high prevalence of child loss in the country. This study, therefore, sought to map out coping strategies bereaved parents adopt in response to child loss. Twen...

The extant literature has explored sexuality education from the perspectives of the adolescents, but the views of parents are largely neglected. The few studies that have examined the views of both parents and adolescents are selective in scope, coverage, and assessment. There is thus, a dearth of data on the type of topics discussed and the freque...

Globally, family systems are being diversified as most children are no longer living with their biological parents due to divorce, remarriage, separation and unmarried personhood leading to a rise in stepfamilies. Despite the rise of stepfamilies in the sub-Saharan African countries, they have been largely under-studied, especially among the adoles...

Religion is seen to have both positive and negative impacts on the individual and the society. The present study sought to investigate the impact of neo-prophetic Christianity on the members of neo-prophetic churches in Ghana. Eighty-six congregants of six neo-prophetic churches in Accra and Kumasi were sampled for this study. Methods used in the g...

Institutional childcare is associated with developmental delays and setbacks. Since alternative options are not always available, it is important to investigate youth in institutional settings to evaluate how to provide optimal care. Cluster analyses determined adjustment patterns for children in institutional care (CIC) (n = 100) and children in f...

There is little information on patients’ medication adherence experiences at community-based clinics in Ghana. This study investigated adherence to antiretroviral medication among people living with HIV (PLHIV) attending a community-based HIV clinic. PLHIV ( N = 349) completed a questionnaire battery on medication adherence, doctor–patient communic...

Child marriage has been identified as a violation of human rights and an obstacle to promoting the development goals concerning gender, health and education. All these impacts undermine the development of the girl child. Despite the potential for negative outcomes, the presence of intrinsic and extrinsic resources can buffer the adverse effects (e....

Amputation is necessitated following an accident or a medical condition often to save a patient’s life. Despite the existence of the procedure and the rising number of amputees in the Ghanaian context, the emotional experiences of both amputees and their caregivers following amputation have been largely ignored. This qualitative exploratory study e...

Amputation is necessitated following an accident or a medical condition often to save a patient’s life. Despite the existence of the procedure and the rising number of amputees in the Ghanaian context, the emotional experiences of both amputees and their caregivers following amputation have been largely ignored. This qualitative exploratory study e...

Literature shows that mental healthcare workers in Ghana face incessant fear of patient violence that compromise safe care delivery. However, the nature, scale, perceived causes, and consequences of these assaults and how they shape risk perceptions have received limited empirical attention, hence the need for this study. The study employed sequent...

The loss of a child comes with trauma, which affects parents and the entire family. Yet, there is limited support for parents who lose their child and little empirical research has been devoted to the experiences of parents who lose a child in the Ghanaian context. Based on interviews with 20 participants purposively sampled from the Accra Metropol...

The prevalence of child marriage in Ghana has declined over the past decade. This may be due to the efforts of organizations working to curb the practice. This paper presents the perceptions of nine staff of governmental and non-governmental organizations in the Northern Region of Ghana who work to prevent and reduce the impact of child marriage in...

As a lower-middle income country, Ghana is noted for having a progressive economy, health system, and family trends. However, COVID-19, with it associated restrictions, has brought changes to various aspects of Ghanaians’ lives. In this paper, we review information from government websites, online media websites, social media, academic articles, an...

International studies have suggested that parental loss is a risk factor for poor physical and mental health, but all orphans do not develop the same kind and intensity of wellbeing indicators. This disparity is associated with certain biopsychosocial characteristics of the developing orphan which may interact with certain environmental factors to...

Child marriage is a widespread global phenomenon that is prevalent in many developing countries including Ghana. The practice of child marriage has its roots in how marriage, adolescence and readiness for marriage are construed in practising communities. This study presents the views of community elders towards the practice and examines constructio...

There has been a surge in the growth of neo-Pentecostal churches in the Ghanaian context. These churches broadcast their activities through television and are able to reach many people and have mass followers. Their main activities are miracles, healing, prophecies, and teaching. Although studies have been conducted on their activities, little is k...

Previous studies have noted the inadequacies within Ghana’s mental health system. These studies highlighted challenges associated with caregiving before the passage of Ghana’s current Mental Health Act (Act 846) of 2012. Yet, there is paucity of research on the wellbeing of caregivers in community-based mental health care, following the passage of...

Introduction The well‐being of married girls is often significantly affected by their early transitioning into the institution of marriage. This is accompanied by a normative shift in their focus from education and personal development to family life and motherhood. However, it is important we understand married girls’ perspectives of what their ma...

Child marriage is the practice of marrying an individual below 18 years. The drivers of this practice include poverty, gender inequality, cultural and religious norms among others. While Ghana is one of many countries worldwide in which child marriage is practised, the literature on cultural underpinnings and implications of the practice in Ghana i...

National trends show that African American adolescents, relative to most other demographic groups, are more religious, and show fewer declines in religiosity, despite drastic decreases in religiosity among youth over the past 25 years. These broad findings are limiting because they fail to acknowledge religious heterogeneity among African American...

Children placed in children’s homes encounter negative experiences in the form of abuse from caregivers, interpersonal conflicts with peers and victimizations from community members. How these children negotiate forgiveness of these negative experiences is unknown due to limited studies on the subject. The present study explored the nature of negat...

Contemporary Christianity in Africa has seen an increase in Pentecostalism/ Charismatism, whose activities include performing miracles, prophecies and exorcism. Although it is acknowledged that the charismatic movement has its roots in Pentecostalism, clear differences can be identified between Pentecostalism and Charismatism. Given this distinctio...

To a large extent caregivers perceive stigma through their social and community interactions by virtue of their association with persons with mental health problems. Meanwhile, evidence on their strategies for coping with potentially undesirable experiences linked with stigma is limited. Using a descriptive qualitative approach, the present study e...

The present study explored perceived causes of, and preferred treatment approach for, mental illness among congregants of six Neo-prophetic churches in Accra and Kumasi through in-depth interviews. Using thematic analysis, five themes emerged from participants’ causal attributions of mental illness. These included lifestyles and environmental stres...

Religiosity and spirituality are influential experiences that buffer adverse effects of stressors. Spirituality typically declines during adolescence, although not universally. Using Latent Class Growth Analysis, we examined changes in spiritual connectedness among 188 early (52% female; M age = 10.77, SD = 0.65 years) and 167 middle (56% female; M...

This study investigated psychosocial experiences and coping strategies of caregivers of persons with mental illness in a psychiatric hospital in Ghana. The study adopted a qualitative design in which 20 participants (10 psychiatric nurses and 10 family caregivers) were sampled from the hospital and interviewed. Using thematic analysis, the results...

Stepparent–stepchild relationships can be difficult to develop and research suggests that the quality of these relationships affects stepfamily functioning and child well-being. This qualitative study explored experiences and perceived determinants of stepchild abuse among 16 youths who are stepchildren on the University of Ghana campus. Positive e...

The study examined quality of life and prevalence of depressive symptoms in patients on long term hemodialysis. Further, it explored the impact of socio-demographic characteristics on depression and quality of life. Design: Study design was cross-sectional. Setting: Study was conducted in the two renal dialysis units of the Korle-Bu Teaching ho...

Youth participation in gambling in Ghana has been surging, but little research has been done on the subject. This study examines factors leading to initiation into gambling and participants’ understanding of and motivation for it. One-on-one interviews were conducted with twenty selected participants. Thematic analysis shows that factors that trigg...

Background: This study explored how employed caregivers experience the interface between child care, parental control and child rights in the context of Children's Homes in Ghana. The focus was on investigating caregiver perceptions of proper child care, their experiences with having to work with child rights principles and the implication of thes...

Although low-income parents living in under-resourced communities in the United States and around the world face challenges, many do well while others struggle in one or more areas of functioning. The present study examined patterns of adjustment among maternal caregivers living in the United States (US) (N = 320) and South Africa (SA) (N = 324). C...

Many people like to identify as belonging to one church or another. Previous studies have explored the process of switching from one religious group to another, and this process has identified various factors that determine the likelihood and reasons for switching. Although this has been explored, little is known about the factors that influence sw...

This qualitative article examines views of students at the University of Ghana on the topic of virginity with specific focus on its gendered meaning and relative significance in modern times. One-on-one interviews were conducted with 30 purposively selected research participants with the aid of an interview guide. Through thematic analysis, the res...

Despite the documented number of scales in international literature measuring perceived social support, none of these have been validated in the Ghanaian context. In this paper, we investigated psychometric properties of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) in school-going adolescents in the Northern region of Ghana. In de...

In Ghana, many individuals employ traditional and faith healing for treating illnesses. Although attitudes and knowledge of laypeople on mental illness have been explored, little is known about Christians' knowledge and how the church influences such knowledge. The present study explored knowledge on definition, types and symptoms of mental illness...

Although religion and spirituality were not the main focus of the broader study, 4 pathways through which religion and spirituality fostered well-being in a sample of Ghanaian orphaned children placed in orphanages emerged strongly. In follow-up interviews, we sampled 20 orphaned children aged between 7 and 17 years who were placed in 4 orphanages...

Given that more children have been orphaned by HIV and AIDS in Africa than anywhere else in the world; it represents a major psychosocial challenge. The extended family system of child care, traditionally the pinnacle of caring for orphans in the African continent has been weakened, with extended families often unable to cater for orphaned children...

Much of the literature on predictors of quality of life (QoL) in orphanage-placed children has focussed on psychopathologies with little emphasis on positive psychological factors. Against this background, the present study aimed to explore the influence of demographic variables (age and sex) and positive psychological variables (perceived social s...

Much of the literature suggests that the availability of certain protective factors can help to buffer the adverse effects of negative life events such as parental loss and the negative experiences surrounding placement in orphanages. Following on from this perspective, the present study explores the influence of perceived social support, self-effi...

The institutionalization of Ghanaian orphans has surged in recent times, but little is known about orphans' experiences after placement. Drawing on data from follow-up interviews with twenty orphans aged eight to seventeen years, the present study explores orphans' experiences subsequent to placement in orphanages. Through thematic analyses, we fin...

Previous studies have demonstrated that parental loss and orphanage placement can be stressful and can negatively affect the psychological well-being of children. However, studies on the psychological well-being of orphanage-placed children in Accra, Ghana are scarce and the impact of parental loss and orphanage placement is minimally understood. T...

We used the Kidcope scale to explore problems experienced by participants within the preceding month, coping, and coping efficacy for 89 orphaned children sampled from orphanages and 100 nonorphans sampled from public schools in Accra, Ghana. Results revealed that orphaned children reported significantly more relationship problems with peers than n...