Assessing the psychological, social and economic impact of caregiving on caregivers of mentally challenged older patients accessing services at St John of God hospital, Mzuzu
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Date
2020-09-02
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kamuzu University of Health Sciences
Abstract
The topic of the study is to assess the psychological, social and economic impact of
caregiving on caregivers of mentally challenged older patients accessing services at St John
of God hospital. This will help health professionals to design interventions that will help to
address the needs of the caregivers resulting into improved quality care to older clients.
PROBLEM
Currently, in Malawi there is scarcity of data on studies conducted on psychological, social
and economic impact of caregiving on caregivers of mentally challenged patients who are
also older persons above 60 years of age. A number of caregivers are affected
psychologically, socially and economically due to their role of caregiving this affects quality
of care and little is done in managing these effects. Hence the study will help to identify
psychological, social and economic challenges that affect the care givers which can inform
the development of appropriate strategies.
OBJECTIVES
The objectives will include; describing the psychosocial and economic impact of caregiving on
caregivers of mentally challenged older patients, describing how the psychosocial and
economic impact of caregiving on caregivers of mentally challenged older patients affects the
quality of care of mentally challenged older patients and documenting recommendations to
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address psychosocial and economic impact of caregiving on caregivers of mentally challenged
older patients.
TYPE OF STUDY
This is a descriptive qualitative study design.
METHODOLOGY
The study will be conducted at St John of God Hospital in Mzuzu city. Purposive sampling
will be used to select respondents. About 30 caregivers and 10 health care workers will be
interviewed. However, the actual sample will depend on the saturation point: a point at which
no new information is emerging from the data. The researcher will use in depth interviews.
These will be administered to the caregiver and the health care workers who interact with
caregivers of the older clients. The questionnaire/ topic guide will have three parts namely;
demographic data of the care givers and questions assessing psychosocial and economic
impact of caregiving on caregivers and how such impact affects the quality of care provided
by caregivers. The other part of the topic guide will assess the health care workers
perceptions of the psychosocial and economic impact of caregiving on caregivers. All
interviews will be audio recorded. Study population will consists of two groups. First are
caregivers of the patients who are aged 60 years and above. The second group will be health
care workers who interact with the caregivers in order to assess the health workers
perceptions of the psycho-social and economic impact of caregiving on the caregivers.
Thematic data analysis will be used. The data will be analysed aided by a computer package
called NVIVO 12. Descriptive statistics will be computed and reported for social
demographic data.
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The study limitations will include bias as the study will be conducted at a hospital setting and
therefore some participants may not be free to express themselves. Some caregivers may also
feel coerced to participate.
EXPECTED FINDINGS
There will be psychosocial and economic impact of caregiving on caregivers of a mentally
challenged older patients accessing services at St John of God hospital.
DISSEMINATION
Findings of the study will be shared during journal club meetings at St John of God and research
conferences. The results will also be shared to COMREC. An article based on the findings will
also be published in a peer –reviewed journal.
Description
Keywords
Caregiving of carer, mentally disorder