Experiences of primary caregivers of children with cerebral palsy across the trajectory of diagnoses in Ghana

African Journal of Disability

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Experiences of primary caregivers of children with cerebral palsy across the trajectory of diagnoses in Ghana
 
Creator Kyeremateng, Joana D.A. Edusei, Anthony Dogbe, Joslin A. Opoku, Maxwell P. Nketsia, William Hammond, Charles Afriyie, Sally A.
 
Subject — cerebral palsy; caregiving; parents; culture; Ghana; children
Description Background: Cerebral palsy (CP) is a non-progressive disorder of posture or movement caused by a lesion to the developing brain that results in functional limitations. The diagnosis of CP can vary from one child to another, causing family stress because of vague and unknown outcomes of the disorder. Although there are negative attitudes in Ghanaian societies towards primary caregivers and children with disabilities, fewer attempts have been made to understand their experiences.Objectives: The main aim of this study was to explore the experiences of primary caregivers across the trajectory of the diagnosis (before, during and after) of CP in the setting of a tertiary hospital.Method: Using Social Capital Theory as framework, 40 primary caregivers of children with CP, who were receiving treatment at a major referral hospital in Ghana, were interviewed about their experiences before, during and after diagnosis.Results: The results that emerged from the thematic analysis were discussed as follows: experiences before diagnosis, experiences during the diagnosis and experiences after the diagnosis. Particularly, participants discussed their inability to access essential services such as education for their children with CP.Conclusion: In light of systemic challenges faced by participants and their children with CP, the need for health policymakers to prioritise the public education about CP, promoting the well-being of caregivers and other implications of the study have been discussed.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2019-09-25
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/ajod.v8i0.577
 
Source African Journal of Disability; Vol 8 (2019); 11 pages 2226-7220 2223-9170
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://ajod.org/index.php/ajod/article/view/577/1185 https://ajod.org/index.php/ajod/article/view/577/1184 https://ajod.org/index.php/ajod/article/view/577/1186 https://ajod.org/index.php/ajod/article/view/577/1183
 
Coverage Ghana — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2019 Joana D.A. Kyeremateng, Anthony Edusei, Joslin A. Dogbe, Maxwell P. Opoku, William Nketsia, Charles Hammond, Sally A. Afriyie https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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