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Men’s Health Foundation Ghana Partner Akona School of Counseling to Train Psychosocial Counselors on Prostate Cancer

By Men’s Health Foundation Ghana
Health Mens Health Foundation Ghana Partner Akona School of Counseling to Train Psychosocial Counselors on Prostate Cancer
AUG 22, 2015 LISTEN

Men’s Health Foundation Ghana, the biggest men’s charity has partnered Akona School of Counseling Ghana to train psychosocial counselors in the management of men diagnosed with prostate cancer.

This is crucial according to the founder of Men’s Health Foundation Ghana, Dr. Raphael Nyarkotey Obu, a registered Naturopathic doctor who specialized in prostate cancer and a PhD candidate.

According to Dr. Nyarkotey, Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in men. It is fraught with both physical and psychological symptomatology. Depression, anxiety, stress, fatigue, pain and psychosocial factors all affect the patient with prostate cancer. Impotence, erectile dysfunction, sexual issues and incontinence in these patients complicate matters further. Anxiety may exist both before testing and while awaiting test results. Confusion over choosing from various interventions often adds to anxiety and depression in these patients. Various demographic factors and the developmental stage of the couple affect these psychological symptoms. The caregiver may undergo significant psychological turmoil while caring for a patient diagnosed with prostate cancer, which is addressed.

The role of trained psychosocial counselors is important in the country to help men deal with the side effect of the treatment

The course in psychosocial oncology for the first time looks at psychological issues in patients with prostate cancer from a clinical perspective, with the aim of highlighting these issues for the counselor in dealing with these patients. It also explores the consultation–liaison relationship between psychiatrists, psychologists and urologists as a team for the multimodal management of prostate cancer.

The charity has started this program as part of its projects to reduce the high mortality rates in the country. The men’s charity believes that Ghanaian men deserve better treatment for prostate cancer.

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Dr. Raphael Nyarkotey Obu delivering the lecture on psychosocial oncology to psychosocial counseling students Akona School of Counseling, Mampong

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Group Photograph of the first batch of train Psychosocial Counseling students at Akona School of counseling Ghana-Mampong

Source: Men’s Health Foundation Ghana

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