Explanatory models for disability: perspectives of health providers working in Malawi

Abstract

Health providers’ understanding of disability determines how disabled people are treated, and hence it is imperative to address conceptualisations of disability, as this will contribute to better opportunities and realisation of human rights for disabled people. This article will use data from a qualitative study exploring conceptualisations of disability by 22 health service providers from the total health care system in Malawi, including the professional sector (e.g. medical doctors and nurses) and the folk sector (healers and indigenous practices). We will discuss how these perceptions influence the lives of disabled people, using the case of a health service user with physical and speech impairment as an example. Our data show that health providers largely conceptualise disability according to the medical model for disability, contributing to the exclusion of disabled people. The bio-psycho-social model for disability, largely absent as an explanatory model for disability among our informants, is the most inclusive and rights based.

Keywords:

• disability
• human rights
• health providers
• disability models
• health care
• poverty

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank their three interpreters from the University of Malawi: James Amani, Helen Juma and Maria Nampota. They would also like to thank their colleague Professor Emeritus Benedicte Ingstad, from the University of Oslo, for her contributions to the planning and data collection of the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Norwegian Research Council, programme for Global Health and Vaccination Research (GLOBVAC) [grant number 183650/S50].