Browsing by Author "Meyerson, Kyla Amy"
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- ItemExploring caregivers’ and health workers’ perceptions on the effects of caregiver-child separation during long-term hospitalisation for MDR-TB in the Western Cape: a qualitative study(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12) Meyerson, Kyla Amy; Tomlinson, Mark; Hoddinott, Graeme; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Psychology.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: There are an estimated 32 000 incident cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in children globally each year. Between 2011 and 2013, 323 children were diagnosed with TB at the Western Cape regional TB referral hospital and of these children, 4.7% had MDR-TB. MDR-TB treatment requires extended hospitalisation which currently entails caregiver-child separation. Caregiver-child separation has been shown to cause behavioural and emotional problems in children. I explored caregivers’ and health workers’ perceptions of the effects of caregiver-child separation during long-term hospitalisation for MDR-TB treatment. I conducted 19 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with caregivers and health workers of children (aged zero to five years) who were receiving hospital-based treatment for MDR-TB. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and translated verbatim. I used Braun and Clarke’s guidelines for thematic analysis to organise and interpret the data. I identified three major themes: (i) MDR-TB treatment was a distressing experience; (ii) children’s behavioural and emotional states included excessive crying, aggression, hyperactivity, and withdrawal; (iii) caregivers’ and health workers’ used behavioural and emotional management strategies such as deception, threat, and prioritisation of biomedical health over psychological health. This study highlights the challenges that children, caregivers and health workers experienced in the context of caregiver-child separation during MDR-TB treatment. These problems are mostly likely the result of a complex interplay between factors such as caregiver-child separation, long-term hospitalisation, social adversity together with other predisposing factors. Future research should test the effectiveness of an intervention to reduce the negative effects of caregiver-child separation during MDR-TB treatment on children, caregivers and health workers in the Western Cape. Keywords: paediatric MDR-TB, caregiver-child separation, long-term hospitalisation, attachment