Benefits of home based care utilisation and client satisfaction: A case study of PLWHAS in rural Choma

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Date
2013-02-03
Authors
Simwanza, Gracious Adams
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Abstract
The AIDS epidemic has affected the lives of more than 40 million people in Afhca since the mid-1980s. Zambia is not an exception of this epidemic. This has lead to significant losses of family income and has created so much strain. It has been caused by prohibitive medical and funeral costs. The health resources are depleted because of the growing number of patients that seek medical care. In recent times non-governmental organizations and governments have consistently been recommending HBC approach for HIV/AIDS patients as one way to mitigate the problem of HIV and AIDS. The main question was: "are clients satisfied with the type of home-based care they receive?" The general objective was "to establish the level of satisfaction by PLWHA benefiting from the Home-based care programs in Choma rural district of Zambia. A non-interventional, cross-sectional and descriptive study design was applied. Using a precision level at 95 percent confidence based on Yamane's guidelines, a sample size of 79 PLWHA and 6 care givers to provide a total sample of 85 were randomly sampled from a population of 123 as enlisted by CRAIDS and CHAZ. Six care givers were selected conveniently to complement validation of information. Data was collected using a survey questionnaire and a checklist, analyzed using the SPSS version 12 computer software. The findings show a general satisfaction with the care among clients. 58.2 percent of the clients were very satisfied against 2.5 percent that were very unsatisfied with the manner care givers communicated to clients. In the spiritual support area, 68.4 percent of the clients were not satisfied with the Holy Communion being brought to them compared to 31.6 percent that were satisfied. In the clinical care area, the element "care givers bring drugs for clients" showed that 87.3 percent were not satisfied compared to 12.7 percent that were satisfied. In the social support area, most satisfaction levels for each component were lower than the dissatisfaction levels. In the financial support element, 96.2 percent expressed their dissatisfaction while only 3.8 percent were satisfied.The majority of care providers in HBC were nurses.There was less participation by other clinical professionals in HBC programs. Most supplies required in the execution of home-based care activities were either in short supply or unavailable. The findings direct their recommendations to the government authorities to consider rendering support to Home-Based Care activities. This could be in form of formulation of a specific policy that is home-based care directed. This will afford the program a budget line. This will, in turn, supplement the efforts of the few care providers. Furthermore, active participation of other clinical care professionals would boost the program and lead to quality care for the clients.
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HIV and AIDS -Zambia
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