title: Traditional mental health practitioners in Kwara State, Nigeria.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the knowledge, practice and attitude of traditional mental health practitioners (TMHPs) in four Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Kwara State, Nigeria, on mental health care; to organise training sessions aimed at improving their knowledge base, practice and; to evaluate such training after allowing for a period of practice. STUDY DESIGN/INTERVENTION: Pre-training evaluation phase: TMHPs were assessed in the area of knowledge, attitude and practice of mental health, with the use of a questionnaire. They were then trained in the concepts of normality and abnormality, types of mental illness, treatment of mental illness including follow up, after-care, relapse prevention, other primary preventive measures, and some introductory talks on some sub-specialties of psychiatry, for example, child psychiatry, old age psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, drug and alcohol abuse and; after a free-practice period of two months, the TMHPs were again reassessed for the impact of the training.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Pre-intervention phase: TMHPs could easily recognise most symptoms of mental illness except undue sadness. The TMHPs also expressed strong belief in the supernatural factor as a cause of mental illness. Some of them beat their patients for therapeutic reasons and; Post-intervention phase: there was a widening of the sense of recognition of TMHPs of important mental symptoms such as undue sadness, social withdrawal and elation. There was a better understanding of the aetiological concepts of mental illness. There was also a reduction in the habit of beating their patients as a form of treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The use of information, education and communication intervention techniques could lead to more positive and less hazardous forms of practice among TMHPs and; The high level of cooperation achieved in this study would indicate a bright chance for future collaborative activities between orthodox and traditional healthcare providers.
authors: Department of Behavioural Sciences, University of Ilorn, Kwara State, Nigeria.
authors: M L
authors: ML
authors: Adelekan
authors: A B
authors: AB
authors: Makanjuola
authors: R J
authors: RJ
authors: Ndom
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016488:Medicine, African Traditional; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D009549:Nigeria; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000193:education / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires