%0 Journal Article
%T Community leaders' attitudes towards and perceptions of suicide and suicide prevention in Ghana
%A Charity S. Akotia
%A Emmanuel Nii-Boye Quarshie
%A Johnny Andoh-Arthur
%A Joseph Osafo
%A Kofi E. Boakye
%J Transcultural Psychiatry
%@ 1461-7471
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/1363461518824434
%X Community leaders can play an important role in suicide prevention because they are potential gatekeepers in resource-poor settings. To investigate their attitudes towards suicide and the role they play when people are in suicidal crisis, 10 community leaders were interviewed in a rural community in Ghana. Thematic Analysis of the interviews showed that leaders held two conflicting views about suicide: health crisis and moral taboo. They also viewed the reasons for suicide as psychosocial strains more than psychiatric factors. Though they viewed suicide as a moral taboo, they maintained a more neutral position in their gatekeeping role: providing support for persons in suicidal crisis more often than exerting a condemnatory attitude. Implications for gatekeeper training are discussed
%K attitudes toward suicide
%K community leaders
%K gatekeepers
%K Ghana
%K suicide prevention
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1363461518824434