Mathye D1, Eksteen CA1
1University of Pretoria, Physiotherapy, Pretoria, South Africa
Background: Raising a child with disabilities is not an easy task and is associated with high levels of parental or caregiver stress. The likely causes of parental or caregiver stress include among others the lack of social and emotional support from both the formal and informal support structures. These formal support structures include the hospital services provided by the hospital staff whereas informal support structures include family, friends, church, neighbours, home-based carers, schools and other caregivers. The educational and income levels of the caregivers have been associated with their stress levels as well as the type of support that they seek and utilise. It is not clear what caregivers of children with disabilities in South Africa and particularly rural and under-resourced communities use as their sources of support.
Purpose: The purpose of the study was to establish the sources of support for caregivers of children with disabilities who were attending physiotherapy in a poorly resourced area of Giyani in the Limpopo Province of South Africa.
Methods: A qualitative, exploratory and descriptive approach was used. The study was conducted at Nkhensani Hospital in Giyani Township, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Giyani is a rural town surrounded by 91 villages with a population of about 244 217 people.
Face-to-face interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) with caregivers of children with disabilities were respectively used to collect data. The rehabilitation professionals working at Nkhensani Hospital assisted in recruiting participants who met the study's inclusion criteria. To be included in the study, the participants had to be a caregiver of a child with a disability aged 0-15 years; be over the age of 18 years and be a client at the hospital's children rehabilitation clinic. A purposively selected sample of nine (n=9) caregivers participated in the face-to-face interviews. Ten (n=10) caregivers made up of three groups of two, three and five participants respectively engaged in the FGDs. Interviews and FGDs were conducted and facilitated by the first author. Data were transcribed verbatim and translated from vernacular into English. An inductive approach to analysis was followed, where In-vivo and open coding was used to generate codes. Similar codes were categorised into themes.
Results: Five themes emerged as sources of support:
(1) Religion (Trust and belief in God, Church and Praying)
(2) Family (Partner, Other family members, Grandparents and Parents)
(3) Neighbours
(4) Healthcare services (Hospital and Healthcare professionals)
(5) Community-based services (Home-based carers, Support group and Creche).
Conclusion(s): Caregivers have multiple sources of support which include: religious beliefs; the church; family; neighbours; healthcare establishments and services; home-based carers; support groups and crèches.
Implications: The results imply that healthcare professionals including physiotherapists should encourage caregivers to seek social and emotional support from places of worship, family, neighbours and healthcare facilities as well as to facilitate the formation of support groups in the absence of other structures of support.
Keywords: Sources of support, children with disability, caregivers of children with disability
Funding acknowledgements: South African National Research Foundation (NRF)
Purpose: The purpose of the study was to establish the sources of support for caregivers of children with disabilities who were attending physiotherapy in a poorly resourced area of Giyani in the Limpopo Province of South Africa.
Methods: A qualitative, exploratory and descriptive approach was used. The study was conducted at Nkhensani Hospital in Giyani Township, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Giyani is a rural town surrounded by 91 villages with a population of about 244 217 people.
Face-to-face interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) with caregivers of children with disabilities were respectively used to collect data. The rehabilitation professionals working at Nkhensani Hospital assisted in recruiting participants who met the study's inclusion criteria. To be included in the study, the participants had to be a caregiver of a child with a disability aged 0-15 years; be over the age of 18 years and be a client at the hospital's children rehabilitation clinic. A purposively selected sample of nine (n=9) caregivers participated in the face-to-face interviews. Ten (n=10) caregivers made up of three groups of two, three and five participants respectively engaged in the FGDs. Interviews and FGDs were conducted and facilitated by the first author. Data were transcribed verbatim and translated from vernacular into English. An inductive approach to analysis was followed, where In-vivo and open coding was used to generate codes. Similar codes were categorised into themes.
Results: Five themes emerged as sources of support:
(1) Religion (Trust and belief in God, Church and Praying)
(2) Family (Partner, Other family members, Grandparents and Parents)
(3) Neighbours
(4) Healthcare services (Hospital and Healthcare professionals)
(5) Community-based services (Home-based carers, Support group and Creche).
Conclusion(s): Caregivers have multiple sources of support which include: religious beliefs; the church; family; neighbours; healthcare establishments and services; home-based carers; support groups and crèches.
Implications: The results imply that healthcare professionals including physiotherapists should encourage caregivers to seek social and emotional support from places of worship, family, neighbours and healthcare facilities as well as to facilitate the formation of support groups in the absence of other structures of support.
Keywords: Sources of support, children with disability, caregivers of children with disability
Funding acknowledgements: South African National Research Foundation (NRF)
Topic: Paediatrics; Paediatrics: cerebral palsy; Paediatrics
Ethics approval required: Yes
Institution: University of Pretoria
Ethics committee: Faculty of Health Sciences
Ethics number: 109/2009
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
