The prepation of relatives of aids patients for home-based care in the Bethesda sub-district : a nursing perspective

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the preparation of relatives of AIDS patients for home-based care in the Bethesda sub-district. The researcher's objectives were to: Establish the nature and extent of preparation of AIDS patients relatives by nurses for looking after the patients at home. Determine the reason for relatives apparent inability to care for a relative with AIDS, in a home-based environment. Identify the nature and variety of problems that AIDS patients have in getting the needed support and acceptance from relatives.

Nursing literature revealed that the preparation of relatives of AIDS patients by nurses is hardly mentioned. Most of the literature only revealed the reactions by caregivers, attitudes etc. but nothing specific to preparation of relatives of AIDS patients by nurses.

Such a study is of significance in that it is concerned with enhancing of HBC skills which in turn could result in the: - Reduction of hospital workload of HIV/AIDS patients - Increase of knowledge base and skills for improvement of home-based care - Prevention cross-infection whilst caring for the HIV/AIDS patient - Removal of myths and biases that exist around HIV/AIDS and HBC. - Assist in planning for and evaluating of the HBC programmes. The researcher used a descriptive design for this study to solicit the information needed on home-based care. As the study was descriptive in nature, it proceeded with the question as "7b what extent are relatives of aids patients prepared by nurses to provide the home-based care?"

As the study was confined to the professional nurses, stratified random sampling was used. Questionnaires were used to obtain information. Questions formulated were partly open-ended and partly close ended. With the information obtained from the respondents, one can deduce that all the objects of the study were met.

- The findings of this study cannot be generalised because the study was conducted in only one District. The sample used for the study was small. The study was also limited by financial constraints, as travelling to other health care district would be costly since this study was not funded. It was discovered that: - establish the nature and extent of preparation of AIDS patients relatives by nurses for looking after the patients at home. - Determine the reason for relatives' apparent inability to care for a relative with AIDS, in a home-based environment. - Identify the nature and variety of problems that AIDS patients have in getting the needed support and acceptance from relatives. The researcher recommends that: - Modules on HBC should be developed. These HBC modules should be developed for all health workers and various professionals. AIDS is a major problem that affects everyone. Therefore, everyone should be trained as to how to handle HIV/AIDS patients or their relatives. - The HBC modules should encapsulate the following:

• Basic information on HIV/AIDS • counselling skills on HIV/AIDS • Home-based care skills and Home visits for AIDS patients • Involvement in self-help projects of communities e.g. Gardens etc • Life skills and coping skills It is the thinking of the researcher that if the above issues can be added, the HBC program can be most effectively implemented. - PHC trainers should be trained as AIDS PHC Specialists. They should be able to train others on HBC and evaluate HBC programmes from time to time, etc. - Research should be conducted on the Involvement and preparation of community health workers (CHW) on home-based care. The community health workers are the closest people next to the communities. They are trusted by them since they are chosen by the communities. CHW do visits to homesteads, therefore their input can be great if utilised effectively so far as preparing the relatives of AIDS patients for home-based care. Similar study be undertaken at a larger scale to include other districts in the region to identify if this is a general problem or not. - The study on the preparation for HBC be undertaken as a comparative study to urban areas.