A Pilot Community-based Intervention Program to Address the Needs of Elderly Caregivers in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa
Council researchers explored the challenges faced by elderly caregivers in South Africa and opportunities for program interventions to mitigate the effects of HIV/AIDS on the elderly and those for whom they care.
Research has shown that HIV and AIDS is placing a substantial burden of care on the elderly. The South African Medical Research Council, Age-in-Action, and the Horizons program are conducting an eight-month study of elderly caregiving in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, in order to develop and test interventions to mitigate the effects of HIV and AIDS on the elderly as well as those for whom they care.
Formative research examined the scope of caregiving by the elderly, and the social, psychological, and economic factors that facilitate and inhibit their ability to provide high-quality care. Based on formative findings, a pilot intervention project is exploring and testing whether a package of services feasibly and effectively leads to:
- Improved care and support offered by elderly caregivers.
- Improved psychosocial outcomes for the caregivers themselves.
- Increased capacity on the part of service providers.
Based on information collected during the formative research and subsequent interviews with senior staff at Age-in-Action, possible topics for the intervention workshops were brainstormed and finalized. An intervention package consisting of weekly training workshops for elderly caregivers was developed that included four workshops of about three hours each that focused on:
- Providing accurate information about HIV.
- Building skills to bridge the communication gap between elderly caregivers and their dependents.
- Building skills to provide basic home-based nursing care.
- Providing up-to-date information on available social support services.
- Fostering an appreciation for the need to do relaxation exercises and the skills required to do them.
Data were collected from an intervention and comparison group. Participants in the intervention arm were invited to the workshops, which were intended to take place over four weeks. Elderly caregivers in the comparison arm were encouraged to continue with their usual participation in Age-in-Action club activities that included engaging in relaxation exercises, participating in a choir, and doing sewing, beadwork, plays, and skits that were organized by the community health workers.
Key findings include:
- Intervention led to improvements in caregivers’ HIV knowledge.
- Elderly caregivers demonstrated improvement for several psychosocial variables.
- Intervention had limited impact on attitude and self-efficacy variables.
- Elderly caregivers felt confident sharing information after the intervention.
- Elderly caregivers practiced home-based basic nursing care postintervention.
- Workshops increased elderly caregivers’ knowledge of social grants.
- Health workers observed several changes in elderly caregivers.
- Health workers gained new skills themselves through workshops.
This study demonstrates the possibility of working with a vulnerable population—the elderly—and addressing areas where they need support. For this experimental process to transcend the realm of research into practice, different stakeholders such as health, social development, and community organizations should be encouraged to collaborate to address the problems that elderly caregivers are facing, and to devise interventions to improve their capacity to care for themselves and for their dependents.
Correlates of grief among older adults caring for children and grandchildren as a consequence of HIV and AIDS in South Africa (abstract)
Boon,Hermien; Ruiter,Robert A.C.; James,Shegs; van den Borne,Bart; Esu-Williams,Eka; Reddy,Priscilla
Journal of Aging and Health 22(1): 48-67
Publication date: 2010
Explaining perceived ability among older people to provide care as a result of HIV and AIDS in South Africa (abstract)
Boon,Hermien; James,Shegs; Ruiter,Robert A.C.; van den Borne,Bart; Esu-Williams,Eka; Reddy,Priscilla
AIDS Care 22(4): 399-408
Publication date: 2010
Pilot community-based intervention to address the needs of elderly caregivers in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa (PDF)
Reddy,Priscilla; James,Shegs; Bilay-Boon,H.Mutumba; Esu-Williams,Eka; Khan,Hena
Horizons Research Summary
Publication date: 2009
The impact of a community-based pilot health education intervention for older people as caregivers of orphaned and sick children as a result of HIV and AIDS in South Africa (abstract) (PDF)
Boon,Hermien; Ruiter,Robert A.C.; James,Shegs; van den Borne,Bart; Esu-Williams,Eka; Reddy,Priscilla
Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology 24(4): 373-389
Publication date: 2009
Project Stats
Location: South Africa (Eastern Cape Province)
Program(s):
HIV and AIDS
Topic(s):
HIV care, support, and treatment
Orphans and vulnerable children
Duration: 3/2006 - 5/2007
Non-Council collaborators:
Age-in-Action
Priscilla Reddy (South African Medical Research Council)
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