About

Professor Emmanuel Nii-Boye Quarshie is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra. Nii is a Community and Applied Health Psychologist and a trained Suicidologist, but he also has a strong inclination towards General Psychology. He is a mental health advocate with a strong research focus on understanding and preventing adolescent and young adult self-harm and suicide, and child sexual abuse in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). He is passionate about developing community-based and in-school interventions to promote adolescent and young adult mental health in LMICs, particularly those within sub-Saharan Africa. He has keen interests in the application of multi-ecological frameworks and interdisciplinary models to understand adolescent self-harm and suicidal behaviours. Nii was awarded the prestigious De Leo Fund Award by the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) in 2021, for outstanding research carried out in developing countries on suicidal behaviours. His research work on “Breaking the Wall of Adolescent Mental Health” emerged as a Social Science and Humanities winner at the 2024 Falling Walls Science Summit. Nii is the current and founding president of the Association for Suicide Prevention Ghana (GASP). 

Education

PhD. Psychological Sciences [Applied Health Psychology & Suicidology], University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

MPhil. Human Development [Community Psychology track], Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.

BA [Hons]. Psychology [major] with Sociology [minor], University of Ghana, Legon Accra, Ghana.

Research Interest

Self-harm and suicide prevention 

Sexual abuse and interpersonal violence prevention 

Adolescent and young adult mental health in resource-poor contexts

Publications

1. Quarshie, E. N. B., Dickson, E. D., Quarshie, S. N. S., Kpebu, S. E. A., & Oppong Asante, K. (2025). Suicidal ideation and suicide attempt among pregnant adolescent girls in Ghana: a cross-sectional study. General Psychiatry,38(1): e101643. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/gpsych-2024-101643
2. Quarshie, E. N. B., Fobi, D., Honu-Mensah, C. M., Appiah, E. E., Obeng, E., Bokpin, I. N., Mapaling, C., & Oppong Asante, K. (2025). Sexual violence victimisation among deaf adolescents: a multi-school-based cross-sectional study from Ghana. Disability and Health Journal (advance online publication). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dhjo.2025.101812
3. Quarshie, E. N. B., Asante, K.O., Andoh-Arthur, J., Akotia, C.S., & Osafo, J. (2024). To keep the law or to repeal it: viewsof parliamentarians on the call to decriminalise attempted suicide in Ghana. OMEGA – Journal of Death and Dying, 89(1), 39–56. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00302228211066683
4. Quarshie, E. N. B., & House, A. O. (2024). Self-Harm: A Guide to Management. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Print ISBN: 978–0–19–285953–2. Online ISBN: 978-0-19-194989-0. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/med/9780192859532.001.0001
5. Quarshie, E. N. B., & Akotia, C. S. (Ed). (2023). Women in Psychology in Ghana: An Autobiographical Collection. Accra, Ghana: Sub-Saharan Publishers. ISBN: 978-9988-8831-1-9.
6. Quarshie, E. N. B., Dey, N. E. Y., & Oppong Asante, K. (2023). Adolescent suicidal behaviour in Namibia: a cross-sectional study of prevalence and correlates among 3,152 school learners aged 12–17 years. BMC Psychiatry, 23 (169). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-023-04646-7
7. Quarshie, E. N. B., Atorkey, P., Garcia, K. P. V., Lomotey, S. A., & Navelle, P. L. (2022). Suicidal behaviors in a nationally representative sample of school-going adolescents aged 12–17 years in Eswatini. Trendsin Psychology, 30, 3-32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43076-021-00094-y
8. Quarshie, E. N. B. (2021). Boys should not be overlooked: Sexual violence victimization and associated factors among school-going adolescents in urban Ghana. Child Abuse & Neglect, 120, 105227. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105227
9. Quarshie, E. N. B., Waterman, M. G., & House, A. O. (2020). Adolescent self-harm in Ghana: a qualitative interview-based study of first-hand accounts. BMC Psychiatry, 20(1), 1-14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-020-02599-9
10. Quarshie, E. N. B., Waterman, M. G., & House, A. O. (2020). Self-harm with suicidal and non-suicidal intent in young people in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review. BMC Psychiatry, 20(1), 1-26. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-020-02587-z