ABSTRACT
Background: The families living with tuberculosis (TB) patients play a vital role in the care of these patients. Little is known about the experiences of families living with family members who are infected with TB. Aim: The aim of the study was to explore and describe the experiences of families having a member or members diagnosed with TB. Setting: The study was conducted in the Ngaka Modiri Molema district in the North West province of South Africa. Methods: This was a qualitative study using a descriptive phenomenological approach. Ten families with member(s) who had TB were purposively selected. Data were collected through face-to-face, semi-structured individual interviews that were recorded. Data were analysed using Colaizzi's seven steps. Results: The following essential meanings emerged: family members' caregiving experiences, family members' challenging experiences, and family members' health literacy experiences. Conclusion: Families had a lack of TB knowledge, which was associated with their poverty and with community health nurses not being committed to patient education. In poor, rural settings, nurses need to support families with adequate TB knowledge to limit the spread of TB and achieve the best treatment outcomes. Contribution: Family involvement is vitally important in TB health promotion. Health promotion is a crucial tool for achieving comprehensive health and social growth. Wider interventions concentrating on families are beneficial for promoting health and preventing TB.
ABSTRACT
A small but intensive study was carried out adopting a simple method which attempts to quantify the economic consequences Plasmodium falciparum malaria on education investment through school pupil absenteeism in a community in Solomon Islands. In a randomized sample of 4,920 cases of P. falciparum malaria in a community, 2,886 occurred in children of primary school age group of 7 to 13 years. On average a case gave rise to a mean school absenteeism of 5.3 days. In the final analysis a total of 11,028 pupil days schooling were lost due to the sampled cases of malaria caused by the species. This is equivalent to 55.14 school pupil years as a child is expected to attend school for 200 days in a year. A primary school teacher with an average annual salary of US$3,990.00 is expected to teach 6,500 school pupil days a year. When this is adopted as an economic indicator for investment in education the loss is calculated to be US$6,769.57 or equivalent to US$1.38 per case. When this is applied nationally, assuming that rates are similar for 79,203 cases of P. falciparum reported in 1990, the total consequence for investment in education is US$108,966.00, which is equivalent to 27.31 teachers being paid for not teaching, an unacceptable impact for a small nation like the Solomon Islands.
