The caregivers' psychosocial and economic effects of caring for terminally ill patients: The case of hospice Africa Uganda

The caregivers' psychosocial and economic effects of caring for terminally ill patients: The case of hospice Africa Uganda

Buyinza N

Palliative Medicine

2016

Caregiver; female; hospice; male; terminally Ill Patient; uganda; Child; Diagnosis; Exhaustion; Human; Major Clinical Study; Malignant Neoplasm; Sampling; Statistical Significance; Wellbeing

Background: Giving care to a patient at the end of life can be a challenging and confronting experience. The responsibilities of care giving may include executing complex physical and mental tasks, financial planning, patient care decision making, emotional support, and coordination of care. Objective: To identify the psychosocial and economic effects of caring for terminally ill patients. Methods: This study was cross-sectional and both qualitative and quantitative in nature. The source of data was restricted to caregivers of terminally ill patients under the care of Hospice Africa Uganda Kampala site. Sampling was simple random. Results: A total of 60.9% of respondents had their patients diagnosed with cancer. The majority of them (62%, n = 105) had spent less than 1 year caring for their patients, followed by those who had taken between 1 and 5 years (18%, n = 31). Care taking had statistically significant effects on the psychosocial well-being of caretakers as shown by the p-values (<0.05). This was particularly for the effect on getting enough time to attend social gatherings (p < 0.05), having enough time for their children (p < 0.05), their relationship with God (p < 0.05), fatigue and exhaustion as a result of the caring role (p < 0.05). The results also show that providing care for terminally ill patients had minimal effects on the economic livelihood of the caregivers. Care giving only had statistically significant influence on the changes in income of caretakers (p < 0.005) and the fact that caretakers could not find another job alongside caring for the patient (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Care giving has a statistically significant effect on the psychosocial well-being and economic livelihood of caregivers.

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