Experiences of family care givers of dementia patients seeking care at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).
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Date
JUNE, 2019
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Abstract
Psychosocial disabilities affect various people worldwide. Dementia which is
synonymous to ageing affects all, irrespective of social status. Dementia poses a threat
to the individual and nation in all, as the cost of caring is exceedingly huge. This
study examines the experiences of family caregivers of dementia patients, the support
services available to them as caregivers and the coping strategies they employed while
under stress from the care giving duties.
The study employed phenomenological design using a qualitative method. Purposive
and availability sampling techniques were used to select 18 participants for the study.
In-depth interviews were conducted with the participants at Komfo Anokye Teaching
Hospital in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Data was analysed using interpretive
phenomenological analysis.
This study has demonstrated that family caregivers of dementia patients go through a
lot of challenges and do not meet their daily needs that would make life and caring
easy for them. The challenges reported were in forms of health, social, economic and
psychological challenges. These challenges coupled with their needs made caregiving
very difficult. Also, positive reappraisal was the most used coping strategy employed
by some of the caregivers when under stress. Again, there was no government or nongovernment support services available to them as caregivers but the support services
they needed as family caregivers was in the form of financial and psychological
support. It was recommended that there should be a rethinking of how caregiving is
constructed in Ghana, their health and well-being of caregivers should be a paramount
aspect of patient well-being as stipulated in the Ghana Mental Health Act. This will
help achieve the united nations Convention on the Rights of Person with Disability,vi
who stipulates the well-being of caregivers is paramount in their convention and
ensuring Ghana meeting the Sustainable Development Goal 3 of ensuring healthy
lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages by 2030
Description
A thesis submitted to the Department of Health Promotion, School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in fulfillment of partial requirement for the Degree of Master of, Philosophy in Disability, Rehabilitation and Development.
Keywords
Dementia Patients, Family, Care Givers, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).