Exploring the barriers to mental health service utilization in the Bolgatanga Municipality: the perspectives of family caregivers, service providers, and mental health administrators.

"Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participateThe study was approved by the Committee on Human Research, Publication and Ethics (CHRPE) of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (reference number: CHRE/AP/038/23). Also, written institutional permission was granted by the Upper East Regional Hospital and the Presbyterian Psychiatric Hospital. The participants were told about their right to voluntarily participate and withdraw without penalties. All the participants gave written consent and signed the informed consent form before the interviews. The privacy, confidentiality, and anonymity of participants were protected throughout the study by assigning P1…P15 to Family caregivers and KI1…KI4 to service providers and MHS administrators. This study was conducted in line with the Declaration of Helsinki ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. Consent for publicationNot applicable. Competing interestsThe authors declare no competing interests. Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests."

"Funding The study received no funding."