Textile Art as an Effective Vocational Tool for Rehabilitating Discharged Mental Patients

ABSTRACT

The research sought to find out the art of the discharged mental patients who were once inmates of the Kumasi rehabilitation centre Cheshire Home Edwenase, who were taught art activities in textiles by the researcher and has been discharged to their respective communities. The scope of the research was limited tothe art of the discharged mental patients which involves a follow up of some selected discharged mental patients who were once inmates in theKumasi Rehabilitation Centre (Cheshire Home) Edwenase whom I taught some art activities in textiles at the rehabilitation centre from the year 2008-2010, now living within the southern part of the country (Kumasi, Cape Coast, Accra, Sunyani, and Takoradi). To solve this problem, an in-depth interview with the discharged mental patients, the administrator, Chief Psychiatric Nurse and staff of the home were conducted. Participant and non-participant observation as well as experiments were made. The main findings of the research which have been expounded by photographs of selected works of the discharged mental patientsshow that the environment, their state and their intensity of illness did not affect their creativity. Then the government can make a policy that all mentally challenged patients should be given a vocational training at the various psychiatric hospitals and units. This will reduce the stress that they will go through if they are bored and idle in the house and may end up back to the psychiatric Hospital.The findings and recommendation made on these patients will serve as a useful source of information for the psychiatric hospitals, rehabilitation centers and occupational therapist in the country and the general public.