Abel J Pienaar
North-West University (Mafikeng Campus), South Africa
Title: Therapeutic interaction beyond the barriers of resource insufficiency: An indegenous approach.
Biography
Biography: Abel J Pienaar
Abstract
Mental health care is the pinnacle of holistic health care in all communities, therefore a burden rest on the shoulders of mental health care practitioners to deliver therapeutic mental health care, irrespective of the context of their practice (N’Gambi & Pienaar, 2013 p.97). In an African context holism in health is not only seen as a healthy body (Omolewa, 2007 p. 594); but to be healthy means that there will be harmony between the body, the mind, emotions and the spirit of the human being and maintenance of cultural distinctiveness (Seboka, 2013). Indigenous Africans strive towards ultimate worth through interaction and relationship with other human beings, nature and the Cosmos. Evidently it is obvious that more than 70% of all health care in Africa and most developing countries are delivered by nurses (King, 2005). Furthermore most facilities in Africa more often than not, cannot meet the needs of the mentally ill, because the staff are not trained or well equipped to work with the mentally ill or culturally sensitivity is lacking (Van Heerden et al. 2008:4; N’Gambi & Pienaar, 2013 pp.94 - 97). Noticing the dire insufficiency in Africa of human-and material resources a natural question may arise: How can mental health practitioners deliver therapeutic care in this context? A likely response would be to start at inception by ascertaining how a particular community attended to their health challenges indigenously.