Seidu, Abdul-Aziz, Malau-Aduli, Bunmi S., McBain-Rigg, Kristin, Malau-Aduli, Aduli E.O., and Emeto, Theophilus I. (2024) "Nothing about us, without us": stakeholders perceptions on strategies to improve persons with disabilities' sexual and reproductive health outcomes in Ghana. International Journal for Equity in Health, 23. 192.

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Abstract

Background: Persons with disabilities (PwDs) experience various adverse sexual and reproductive health (SRH) outcomes. However, there is a paucity of evidence on the strategies to improve their SRH outcomes. This study, therefore, used a pluralistic approach to explore PwDs and healthcare providers’ (HPs) perspectives on how to improve the SRH of PwDs in Ghana.

Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with 62 purposively selected stakeholders (37 PwDs and 25 HPs) in the Kumasi Metropolis and Offinso North District. The data was subjected to reflexive thematic analysis.

Results: Six major themes were generated from the data: Training for disability-sensitive and inclusive healthcare, Healthcare inclusivity – ‘nothing about us, without us’, Raising awareness for accessibility and equity, Impactful continuous monitoring and evaluation, Vital empowerment for self-reliance and Educating for disability-inclusive healthcare environment.

These recommendations were synthesised to develop the THRIVE model–a comprehensive data driven framework from stakeholders that emphasises the importance of factors such as Training for disability-sensitive and inclusive healthcare, Healthcare inclusivity – ‘nothing about us, without us’, Raising awareness for accessibility and equity, Impactful continuous monitoring and evaluation, Vital empowerment for self-reliance and Enforcement of physical accessibility to improve their SRH outcomes.

Conclusion: Using the evidence based THRIVE model could facilitate the development and strengthening of existing interventions and policies including the disability Act 715 to improve the SRH access and outcomes of PwDs in Ghana and other low-and middle-income countries.

Item ID:	85289
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1475-9276
Copyright Information:	© The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution‑NonCommercial‑NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non‑commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Date Deposited:	30 Apr 2025 00:10
FoR Codes:	42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4206 Public health > 420602 Health equity @ 100%
SEO Codes:	20 HEALTH > 2004 Public health (excl. specific population health) > 200403 Disability and functional capacity @ 30% 20 HEALTH > 2002 Evaluation of health and support services > 200204 Health inequalities @ 70%
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