The cultural dimensions of mental

health among Nigerians living in the

UK

Course: BSW Honours (Code)

Name: Mary Elohim
Student Number:1906946
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 ❏ Introduction and background
❏ Research Objectives
❏ Study Motivation
❏ Research Methodology
❏ Study Findings
❏ Study Recommendations
❏ Study Limitations

Presentation Outline

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Defining Mental
Illness

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INTRODUCTION
❏ Mental ill-health is a subject of concern in
contemporary society
❏ Mental health disorders constitute almost about
14% of the global burden of disease, and it is
one of the leading causes of disability
worldwide (WHO, 2008)
❏ Mental health disorder is a major source of
pain and suffering, affecting more than 25% of
all people at some point in their lives, and
impacting people of all ages, genders, and
socioeconomic backgrounds (WHO, 2010).

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Background
❏ Many individuals are struggling with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, insomnia, and other
disorders
❏ Individuals with mental ill-health experience prejudices and discrimination due to a lack of understanding about
mental health issues
❏ The perceptions about mental health disorders create stigma and discrimination, worsening the situation for
those who are affected and their families
❏ Individuals from BME backgrounds with mental health illness face a heightened risk of various social
detriments due to non-treatment
❏ Some of these issues are caused by cultural issues

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Research Objectives
❏ To investigate what mental ill-health means to Nigerians living in the UK
❏ To examine how cultural perceptions of mental health among members of the Nigerian community in the UK
affect their access to and understanding of mental health care services.
❏ To identify the mental health care solutions available for Nigerians and what impact it has made in their
community.

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Study
motivation

❏ personal interest as a Nigerian living in

the UK.
❏ professional motivation as a social
worker

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 Research Methodology

❏qualitative research methods

❏semi-structured interviews on with 8 female participants
❏Zoom
❏Questions related to definitions of mental health, cultural
perceptions of participants and strategies

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Demographic details of study participants
Duration of time in
Participant Job Role
current role

Participant A Adults Mental Health Support Worker 3 years

Participant B Advanced Nurse Practitioner 10 years

Participant C Experienced Social Worker 2 years

Occupational
Participant D 2years
Therapist
Experienced Social worker- Mental Health and Well-being
Participant E 3 years
Team

Participant F Mental Health Practitioner 3 years

Participant G Medical General Practitioner 5 years

Participant H Qualified Social Worker – Mash Team 2 years

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 Study Findings

Defining Mental ill-health

● Four categories of the meaning of mental ill-health dominated the study findings:

1) Mental ill-health as a disturbance of the mind

From my perspective, mental health is the functioning of one’s brain, the way your mannerism, your behaviour
(Uchechi, Social Worker)

When something goes wrong in the brain it affects the way they act:

Mental health l guess it's situations or things that happen that make you relaxed or make you feel different to what
you normally would or what you normally feel on a normal day. I would also define it as a severe kind of shifting of
your mood and your personality shifting how you normally react to things (Abigail, Social Worker).

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 Study Findings

2)Visual representations of mental ill-health

What people usually see and deem as signs of mental ill-health in Nigerian society e.g.

The only people that they really really believe they have mental health issues are those people who they see on
the street picking things up to eat from the bin, you know their hair is unkempt; they are not properly dressed
(Kyawo, Adult Mental Health Support Worker).

…obviously, a mental person goes around the streets, they don’t know what they are doing, so people might see
them as a danger trying to throw stones, and might defend themselves by attacking them (Kuluwa, Mental Health
Practitioner).

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 Study Findings

3) Mental health as a lack of functioning in society

This category describes a social dimension of mental health in which an individual can no longer function well in
society e.g.

l will call it a condition because it’s a condition that affects you, that can affect your everyday living, and that
can affect how you function (Abebi, female nurse practitioner).

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 ❏ Cultural perceptions came out in describing the causes of
Cultural Perceptions of mental ill-health e.g. some participants described mental health
as a spiritual issue:

Mental Health You have to have done something wrong for you to be going
through that mental unwellness so to speak because if you
haven’t done anything wrong to God (Kyawo, Adult Mental
Health Support Worker)

❏ Mental health issues are not well understood, accepted or

discussed in Nigerian society. There is a lot of stigma attached
to being mentally unwell, and the topic is regarded as taboo:

I think that we as Nigerians have a long way to go as regards

mental health. I don’t think that we believe so much in
mental health. We know that it exists but we don’t believe so
much in it (Kyawo, Adult Mental Health Support Worker).

❏ Another participant explained the stigma by saying:

They might think that this person is acting irrational, so

when it comes to mental health, there is cultural stigma,
people don’t want to talk about it, it’s an embarrassment, a
shame (Ada, Advanced Nurse Practitioner).

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This affects the help-seeking behaviour of
individuals with mental health in the
Nigerian community

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Mental health solutions ❏ Mental health issues need to be talked about more
and accepted as a real issue.
❏ Role of religious organisations
❏ Need to raise awareness to deal with the stigma
around mental illness within the Nigerian community
e.g.

l think it has to start from the very grassroots and those

that are professionals need to spread that awareness
more because we are the ones that put the stigma on
people (Mercy, Social Worker).

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 Discussion of findings
❏There is no standard definition of mental ill-health in the UK Nigerian community.
❏Scholars have called for clarity between mental health and mental illness because it is easy to confuse the two
(e.g. Leighton & Dogra, 2009; Leighton, 2008).
❏In this study, participants were specifically asked to define mental ill-health and their definitions showed that it
is not an easy concept to define. Several definitions of mental ill-health showed the multi-dimensional nature of
mental health, which also had cultural foundations.
❏Spiritual causes of mental health were supported by Jegede (2005) study which found that found that they
believe mental illness can result from supernatural or mystical sources, such as those resulting from the anger of
the gods.
❏Religious beliefs were found to play a huge role in how Nigerians in the UK defined mental illness. In this study,
someone had to have displeased God or the gods to have a mental illness

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 Discussion of findings

❏Religion and spirituality are also linked with coping mechanisms for mental illness. Nigerians use religion to
deal with several issues, including mental health issues, hence they do not take mental ill-health seriously.
❏Nsereko et al., (2011) noted that there are traditional belief systems and cultural explanatory models of mental
illness which explain people’s help-seeking behaviour when they are suffering from mental health issues.
❏most Nigerians believe mental illness is represented by those people that are unkempt and who are seen picking
things from the street. However, the meaning of mental illness goes beyond these visual representations.
❏Mental health is viewed as a form of madness. These findings are not new, most African cultures believe in this
definition of mental ill-health and this often impacts on their understanding of mental health issues
(Bartholomew, 2017; Mavundla & Toth, 2009; Patel, 1995).

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 Discussion of findings
❏Culture of silence around mental health issues which leads to stigma and discrimination of individuals with
mental health challenges
❏Participants noted the need to raise awareness about mental health issues in churches, with religious leaders
taking the lead on this.
❏The promotion of mental health awareness in churches has been discussed by previous scholars (e.g. Costello et
al., 2021; Rogers et al., 2012).
❏Another solution noted in the study was related to the training of mental health professionals to be less
judgemental and stigmatising when they encounter mentally challenged individuals.
❏Olmo-Romero et al., (2019) noted that mental health professionals may share some of the societal prejudices
towards mental illness which might result in stigmatising behaviours towards mentally challenged individuals
and undermines the quality of their care.

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Study ❏ Nigerian society needs to understand the multi-
dimensional nature of mental health in order to deal

Recommendations with it effectively.

❏ Mental health professionals can assist in raising
awareness about mental health issues which will deal
with the stigma and culture of silence around the
topic
❏ the training of mental health professionals to be
culturally sensitive as well as to have a non-
judgmental attitude

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Study Limitations ❏ The study was small-scale due to the short time
frame as well as the scope
❏ This study only included 8 female participants.
❏ The study targeted professionals working with people
with mental health issues, including social workers,
mental health support workers and practitioners.
❏ Future studies can use larger samples which will
include a mix of both males and females
❏ Future studies can include Nigerian families who do
not necessarily work in mental health to provide a
broader analysis

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 References

❏Bartholomew, T. T. (2017). Madness (Eemwengu) and its sources: Conceptualizing mental illness in Namibian
Ovambo culture. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 48(3), 421-437.
❏Jegede, A. S. (2005). The notion of'were'in Yoruba conception of mental illness. Nordic Journal of African
Studies, 14(1), 10-10.
❏Olmo-Romero, D., González-Blanco, M., Sarró, S., Grácio, J., Martín-Carrasco, M., Martinez-Cabezón, A. C., ...
& González-Fraile, E. (2019). Mental health professionals’ attitudes towards mental illness: professional and
cultural factors in the INTER NOS study. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 269(3),
325-339.
❏Patel, V. (1995). Explanatory models of mental illness in sub-Saharan Africa. Social science & medicine, 40(9),
1291-1298.

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