Providing Home-Based Care in Poor Urban Setting in Jamaica

Description:

Abstract:
Objectives To determine the quality of life (QOL) of informal home based caregivers of persons with HIV/AIDS and test the use of the WHO-QOL-100 instrument in Jamaica. Method The pre-tested WHO-QOL-100 and a 10 item introductory questionnaire were administered to a purposive sample (n=28), 89% females and 11% males at the Centre for HIV/AIDS Research, Education and Services (CHARES). Inter/intra interviewer reliability was 90 %. Data were analyzed using SPSS. Results Thirty-nine percent of the respondents were HIV positive, and 36% were negative. The median age of the respondents was 32.5 (14-61) years. The median time as caregiver was three (0.16-12) years, 71% had been caregivers > nine months. Fifty-four percent of the respondents were single, 39% were caring for their offspring while others were caring for other relatives or spouses. Thirty nine percent had training in care giving. Eighty-two percent had secondary and/or tertiary education. Sixty-four percent scored <80% on the QOL scale. Working capacity and spirituality were the highest positive contributors to the respondents' QOL and financial resources the lowest. Forty three percent of the respondents felt confident and had no problem caring for persons with HIV/AIDS. Thirty-two percent identified with and had compassion for the person with HIV/AIDS. A few feared disclosure, (14.3%), admitted to being depressed (7.1%) or had financial problems (10.7%). Conclusion The respondents were mostly young, female and well educated. Many of the caregivers were HIV positive and were caring for their relatives or spouses. Working capacity and spirituality were the highest positive contributors to QOL. The scores suggested that the majority did not experience an optimum QOL and financial problems may have contributed to this. This pilot study successfully used the WHO QOL-100 on a small sample of the Jamaican population. Further testing of this instrument is required.