Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Caregivers Job stress Indonesia'

Structural equation modeling was utilized in studying the voluntariness of the assumption of caregiving status. A model hypothesizing the stress flow that occurs when assuming a new life schema was presented. Utilizing three groups of caregiving populations, Home Caregivers, Intermediate Care Facility Aides, and Intensive Care Units and Emergency Room Nurses (N = 66), measures were administered to determine the voluntariness of the assumption of the role of caregiver. Path analysis and causal interpretation were utilized to determine outcomes. The involuntary assumption of the role of caretaker was shown to significantly affect depression and burnout rates negatively when perceived feelings of burden were high. When caretaker age was greater upon assumption of the role, self-esteem was low and family support was perceived to be lacking. When the role of caretaker is assumed on a voluntary basis and support from outside sources is perceived as helpful (i.e., social or financial support from the family), job stress and the subjective manageability of the symptoms were viewed as manageable. Implications for those assuming the role of caretaker with the elderly were examined, and recommendations for further training and interventions within the caretaker population were offered.

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is among the most prevalent of the dementias and it is anticipated that much of the care required for the dependent patient will be provided in the home setting by a caregiver. The purpose of this study was to identify the importance of needs related to caregiving and the level of satisfaction of those needs related to the caregivers of Alzheimer's victims. The theoretical framework for this study is Dorthea Orem's "Self-Care Deficit Theory."The sample was 18 caregivers who attended one of three Alzheimer's Support Group meetings held in three central Indiana cities. Human subjects rights were protected. The Home Caregiver Needs Survey (HCNS), Hileman, 1990, was used to identify the information, household, patient psychological needs of the and care needs, personal and caregivers of Alzheimer's patients and to determine if these needs are being adequately met. Findings included: (a) the caregivers perceived the need for information, patient care, personal, spiritual, psychological need to be somewhat important to important; teach, assist and support caregivers throughout the and (b) satisfaction of the needs indicated that the caregivers were somewhat satisfied to satisfied with the needs presented. Implications call for: (a) Nursing intervention to caregiving experience. (b) Home health care agencies and senior citizens action groups to lobby for support and programs to assist caregivers.
School of Nursing

Personality characteristics of spousal and adult children and active potential caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's Disease were studied in order to better predict caregiver burden and aspects of well-being. Contrary to prediction, no differences were found between spouse and adult children active caregivers on measures of well-being. Additionally, adult children potential caregivers indicated feeling less control over their lives than spouse potential caregivers. When social desirability was controlled, active caregivers reported greater fluctuations in affect than did potential caregivers. As predicted, personality characteristics of individuals were found to have the biggest role in determining which individuals experience stress or burden.

碩士
國立東華大學
諮商與臨床心理學系
104
This study attempted to provide a glimpse into the working conditions of Indonesian caregivers in Taiwan. It employed the structure of a survey research methodology to empirically test the relationships among three sets of variables: job stress, job satisfaction and on-job sense of coherence.Data was collected from 306 female Indonesian caregivers across Taiwan in one-on-one interview settings. Two significant canonical correlations of medium strength were found. The first canonical correlation was found to be the positive association between the employer’s support and the caregiver’s ability to cope with work individually, whereas the second canonical correlation was found to be the positive association between the fast-paced repetitive workload and a desire for professional recognition. Sense of coherence significantly moderated the relationship between job stress and job satisfaction in that the strength of such an association was much stronger for the higher sense of coherence group than for its lower counterpart. The implications are discussed in terms of the current working conditions in Taiwan.

M.A.
Stres is ’n welbekende verskynsel in hedendaagse tye wat ’n ernstige impak het op die maatskaplike funksionering van mense. Individue ervaar dikwels hierdie impak veral binne hul werkomgewings, wat ’n direkte impak het op hul prestasies, medewerkers en kliënte. Binne diensorganisasies, soos die Suid-Afrikaanse Vrouefederasie, is daar vele uitdagings wat daagliks verskeie stresvolle situasies vir werknemers tot gevolg het. Wanneer hierdie situasies nie korrek hanteer word deur die beskikbaarheid en toepassing van doelgerigte intervensies, effektiewe streshanteringsvaardighede en ondersteuningsnetwerke nie, kan dit die kwaliteit diens negatief beïnvloed. Bestuurders van tehuise en behuisingskemas vir bejaardes en gestremdes vervul ’n baie verantwoordelike rol in hierdie inrigtings. Hierdie individue is aanspreeklik vir elke personeellid, inwoner en aksie wat vanuit die inrigting van stapel gestuur word. Deur middel van professionele waarneming deur die navorser, erkenning deur sekere van die bestuurders dat hulle wel stres ervaar, asook twee stresmetings, is vasgestel dat stres beslis ’n realiteit is binne die maatskaplike sisteme waarbinne hierdie individue funksioneer. Verskeie faktore dra by tot die belewenis van hul stres, waarby organisatoriese strukture, werkomstandighede, interpersoonlike verhoudings en verwagtinge slegs ’n paar is. Hierdie navorsingstudie se fokus is veral daarop gerig om te bepaal watter van hierdie faktore wel ’n rol speel sodat aanbevelings en riglyne vir die SAVF se oorweging aangebied kan word. Dit was die navorser se voorneme om deur middel van hierdie studie ‘n professionele ondersoek van stapel te stuur na die belewenis van stres deur bestuurders werksaam in die SAVF, sodat riglyne vanuit die ondersoek se resultate saamgestel kon word. Hierdie riglyne se doel is tweevoudig, eerstens om die individuele maatskaplike funksionering van die bestuurders te bevorder en tweedens om ’n positiewe impak op die kwaliteit diens wat vanuit hierdie strukture gelewer word, te fasiliteer. Stres is ‘n verskynsel wat dikwels ontken word en beslis nie die nodige erkenning en korrekte aandag ontvang nie. Veral binne diensorganisasies word die klem van ondersteuning en hulp hoofsaaklik op die kliëntesisteme geplaas, en dikwels word daar van diegene wat die diens lewer, se maatskaplike behoeftes vergeet. Met hierdie studie hoop die navorser om ’n positiewe bydrae te lewer om hierdie tendens effektief aan te pak.

碩士
國立成功大學
護理學系碩博士班
98
The aims of this study were to explore job situations and the stresses on home-care foreign workers in southern Taiwan. The study subjects were 54 Indonesian home-care workers employed by families with long-term care patients. The long-term care patients were recruited from two nursing Home Health Care Agencies, hospital-based: one is a regional hospital and the other a medical center in the Tainan area. The information, including social demographic characteristics, job situation and stress, were measured with a self-developed structured questionnaire and Karasek’s Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ), respectively. The content-validity and expert validity were used to improve the instrument validity. Data collection was handled by well-trained home visitors, and included: frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. First, the factor associated with job stress was examined by Chi-square test. The result shows that the mean number of work-hours per day of Indonesia workers was nearly 16 hours: 92% workers take care of the patients every midnight and 96% workers were usually loaded with extra housework duty. Only 37% of the workers felt they had enough sleeping time. The daily duties among 90% of the workers in regard to patient care included: medication, feeding, body cleaning, excrement disposal, and body massage. The four kinds of job stress, high-stress, low stress, active type and passive type were categorized from JCQ as: 29.6%, 24.1%, 22.2%, and 24.1%, respectively. The job stress related to higher mental demand included: sleeping time restrictions, care duties required at midnight, extra work in taking care of the other elders and kids. In addition, job stress was related to little control of work conditions, including poor verbalization in communication, pressure generated by the family’s economic responsibility; extra work load related to family affairs and taking care of other elders and kids. We hope the study results will provide relevant professionals with effective strategies for helping the Indonesian home-care worker to relieve their job stress and improve the quality of health and care of these foreign home-care workers. We recommend that future research focus on developing strategies to appropriately arrange the daily care and to effectively relieve their job stress.

碩士
朝陽科技大學
幼兒保育系
102
This study aims to investigate the current situation of job stress and job satisfaction of caregivers in infant care centers in Taichung City and related factors. The questionnaire survey method was adopted to collect data. The participants of study were caregivers in registered infant care centers in Taichung City. 230 questionnaires were sent out, with 204 valid questionnaires. The resulting data were analyzed with statistical methods such as descriptive statistical analysis, t test, ANOVA analysis, and Pearson product-moment correlation. The results are as show in the following. 1. The job stress of the caregivers in infant care centers in Taichung City is low, with the average score 1.94, among which "workload" is the greatest perceived stress. 2. Job satisfaction of the caregivers in infant care centers in Taichung City is high, with the average score 3.23, among which caregivers are most satisfied with "interpersonal relationships". 3. Differences of job stress of the caregivers with different backgrounds are as shown below. (1) There are significant differences on job stress in caregivers’ educational background, working years, titles, whether they have children or not, age of their yonugest children, and whether they serve administrative duties. i. In job stress of the caregivers aged 30-39, "workload," "classroom instruction," "interpersonal relationships," and "overall job stresss" are significantly higher than the caregivers aged under 29. ii. Job stress of caregivers graduated from college or high school is significantly higher than that of caregivers with a bachelor degree or above . iii. In job stress, "workload" of married caregivers is significantly higher than unmarried caregivers. iv. In job stress, "workload" of caregivers with children is significantly higher than caregivers with out children. v. The younger the age of the youngest child of caregivers is, the greater "workload" job stress will be. vi. The longer working years of caregivers have, the greater "workload" job stress will be. vii. Job stress of non-babysitter preschool educators is significantly higher than that of babysitters. viii. Job stress of caregivers concurrently serving with administrative duties is significantly higher than that of caregivers without concurrently serving with administrative duties. (2) There are significant differences on job satisfaction in caregivers with different ages, titles, teacher-student ratios, with or without concurrently serving with administrative duties. i. In "executive leadership," job satisfaction of the caregivers aged 40 years and older is significantly higher than that of the caregivers aged 30-39. ii. In "work environment," "training and promotion," and "overall job satisfaction," job satisfaction of babysitters is significantly higher than that of non-babysitter preschool educators. iii. In "work feedback," job satisfaction of the caregivers concurrently serving with administrative duties is significantly higher than that of the caregivers without concurrently serving with administrative duties. iv. In "work environment" and "executive leadership," the higher the teacher-student ratio among caregivers is, the higher job satisfaction will be. 4. Job stress and satisfaction of caregivers in infant care centers are negatively correlated. In this study, the following recommendations are proposed: 1. In this study, it is found that in organizing the professional growth training camp for caregivers, the job stress of the caregivers aged 30 to 39 is significantly higher than that of the caregivers aged below 29 on the levels of "job stress," "work load," "class management," and "interpersonal relationships." The caregivers in this phase are in the "novelty stage" in the growth stage of preschool educators proposed by Katz (2002). Therefore, it is suggested that caregivers and operators of infant care centers are encouraged for more contact and the exchange of experience and knowledge and the "caregiver training camp" should be established with the infant care centers in other regions. In the learning process, caregivers can mutually learn some techniques and methods; meanwhile, in the courses related to infant development and infant care, the scholars with related discipline backgrounds are invited to give a speech, allowing caregivers benefit from it. 2. Enhancing wages and welfare of caregivers. In this study, it is found that caregivers are most dissatisfied with "wages and welfare" according to the job satisfaction situation of the caregivers in the infant care center in Taichung City and obviously, caregivers’ wages are not proportional to their work contribution. Therefore, infant care center operators and authorities should consider caregivers’ wages and welfare to formulate reasonable wages and welfare and provide caregivers with an assured work environment. 3. Implementing administrative organization and division of labor of infant care centers. In this study, it is found that the greatest job stress of caregivers lies in "workload," among which most subjects feel the stress from long working hours, work overtime, concurrently serving with administrative duties, and unscheduled events. Therefore, it is recommended that the competent authorities need to assist infant care centers develop sound administrative organization; when infant care centers organize activities, there should be a clear division of labor and the rewards so as to reduce job stress sources of caregivers and increase welfare measures and childcare performance with high quality.

碩士
台灣首府大學
教育研究所
103
The main purpose of this study was to examine the relationships of job stress, job satisfaction and organizational commitment in private elementary school teachers in Indonesia. The subjects were 584 private elementary school teachers drawn from the population of all private elementary school teachers in Makassar City of Indonesia. The “Teachers Job Stress Scale” (TJSS), the “Teacher Job Satisfaction Scale” (TJSAS) and the “Organizational Commitment Scale” (OCS) were conducted. The findings were as follows: 1.Private primary school teachers of Makassar City in Indonesia perceived a below-average level of intensity of job stress. There were significant differences in level of intensity of job stress among teachers with some different personal background. 2.Private primary school teachers of Makassar City in Indonesia perceived an above-average level of intensity of job satisfaction. There were significant differences in level of intensity of job satisfaction among teachers with some different personal background. 3.Private primary school teachers of Makassar City in Indonesia perceived an above-average level of intensity of organizational commitment. There were significant differences in level of intensity of organizational commitment among teachers with some different personal background. 4.There were significant correlations among job stress, job satisfaction and organizational commitment in private primary school teachers of Makassar City in Indonesia. Job stress has an indirect influence on organization commitment through the mediating effect of job satisfaction in private primary school teachers.

碩士
美和科技大學
健康照護研究所
100
This study focused on:（1）Relationship among basic properties, care situations and working pressure for the Indonesians care workers.（2）Relationship between basic properties of the patient and working pressure of the Indonesians care workers.（3）Correlation between social support and working pressure of the Indonesians care workers.（4）Important factors to explain the working pressure for the Indonesians care workers. Descriptive cross-section method was used in this study. The Indonesians care workers of this study were selected from the home care institutes in Kaohsiung city by purposive sampling. Under the agreements of the Indonesians care workers and their employer, 220 questionnaires were issued, and 170 valid questionnaires were recovered. The questionnaire was designed as a structured questionnaire including basic properties of the Indonesians care worker, care situations, basic properties of the patient, working pressure and social support. The Chinese questionnaire was translated into Bahasa Indonesia by a two bilingual expert, and the Bahasa Indonesia questionnaire was translated into Chinese by the other bilingual expert with back translation. Finally, the questionnaire was examined by a bilingual expert with medical and nursing background to confirm the reliability and validity. The collected data is analyzed by SPSS 17.0, in which percentage, average value, standard deviation, independent sample t-test, single-factor analysis of variance, Pearson correlation product moment and multiple regression analysis is calculated. The finding results of this study can be expressed as follow: （1） Working pressure is obviously related to care work training, routine holidays, care work content including suctioning phlegm, the other work content including cleaning the houses of the employers and the rest of the family, the time to take care of the patient, the patient’s gender and the consciousness state of the patient.（2）The resource of the item “Someone can help patient with errors” is the most adequate for the care workers in the social support, and the item “Someone can accompany me” is the least enough. The comparison was shown that the resource of the information support was the most adequate in the social support, the second is the tool support, and the emotion support was the least enough.（3）The item “Need to pay attention to the patient's unexpected situations” in the working pressure was felt by the Indonesians care worker most frequently, and the item “poor workplace for the lighting” affected the care worker most slightly. The maximum working pressure was from the work load, the second was interpersonal relationships, and work environment has the smallest impact.（4） An increase in tool support, information support and emotion support can result in a reduction in working pressure（5） Received care work training before coming Taiwan, care work content with suctioning, the time spent to care the patient (17-24 hours per day) and poor emotion support can explain the total variance of working pressure by 36.7％. The results of this study were shown that home-care nurse should provide concern and emotion support to reduce the working pressure of the Indonesians care workers. Also, home-care nurse should teach the correct care skills to the Indonesians care worker and confirm that the care worker can grasp the care skills as soon as possible. The results could provide a reference to government to revise the employment regulations, which can improve the physical and mental health of care worker and enhance the care quality.

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Clinical Psychology) in the Department of Psychology University of Zululand, South Africa, 2005.
HIV/AIDS has reached alarming proportions in South Africa, with many people's lives being affected. This research project looked more closely at caregivers involved in HIV/AIDS work, examining their stress levels and their psychological well-being. A yoga intervention program was implemented with a sample of caregivers at the Holy Cross Hospice, Emoyeni, in Zululand. The effectiveness of the program was evaluated using both qualitative and quantitative measures. Overall, this yoga intervention program was effective with many of the caregivers reporting noted improvements in their stress levels and psychological well-being.

碩士
正修科技大學
幼兒保育研究所
105
Abstract This study was to investigate the perception of job stress and job satisfaction for caregivers of infant care centers in Kaohsiung, The purpose of the study included: 1. to understand the current situation of job stress and job satisfaction in infant care centers; 2. to discuss the differences of the two variables with various background variables; 3. to discuss the correlations of the two variables were included in this study. Questionnaire method was used to collect the data, and the caregivers in the infant care centers in Kaohsiung were taken as the research object. In the pre-test, there are 107 respondents selected from the public and infant care centers in Kaohsiung. We used purposed sampling to select 2/3 of the infant care centers among different districts in Kaohsiung with 231 survey respondents, the recovery rate of 100%. After the questionnaire was collected, the data were analyzed by mean, standard deviation, dependent samples one-way ANOVA, t-test, and Pearson’s product-moment correlation. The results showed that the job stress of the caregivers of infant care centers in Kaohsiung belonged to the middle and lower levels, and the job satisfaction was in the middle and lower levels. Caregivers who were different age, education, marriage, monthly salary showed not significantly differences on job stress and job satisfaction. The higher extent of job stress the caregivers perceived, the lower job satisfaction they had. Finally, according to the results, the study provided specific recommendations for social affairs bureau, infant care centers, and reference for the future researches.

As the baby boomer generation ages, and as advanced medical techniques keep people alive longer, the need for family caregivers will grow. Researchers have determined that the health of family caregivers is generally poorer that noncaregivers. Also, the type of family relationship has been determined to influence health outcomes. This study examined how caregiving parents and caregiving adult children compared with regard to caregiving variables and health outcomes. Social support was then assessed to determine if a mediating effect existed between the predictors and health outcomes. Using data from the MIDUS II survey, the health outcomes of self-identified caregiving parents and caregiving adult children was studied in light of the predictor variables of type of relationship, provision of activities of daily living, length of time caregiving, and family demands. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the relation between the predictors and health outcomes. Mediation tests were administered to assess if social support mediated between the significant predictors and health outcomes. The type of family relationship influenced health outcomes with caregiving parents demonstrating poorer health than caregiving adult children. Caregiving parents had lower self-rated health and higher numbers of chronic conditions than caregiving adult children. Perceived family demands were associated with increased number of chronic conditions for both caregiving adult children and caregiving parents. No significant influence was found between provision of activities of daily living or length of time caregiving with health outcomes. Similarly, no mediation effect of social support was found between the significant predictor variables and health outcomes. Using the stress process model, this study examined caregiving predictor variables and health outcomes for caregiving parents and caregiving adult children. Caregiving parents were found to demonstrate poorer self-rated health and more chronic health conditions that caregiving adult children. Unlike many previous studies, perceived family demands was found to have a strong association with the number of chronic health conditions for both groups of caregivers.
Graduation date: 2012

A research report in partial fulfilment of Masters of Arts in Social and Psychological Research, School of Human and Community Development, University of Witwatersrand, 2018
Caregiving is reported in numerous studies to have adverse effects on caregivers, including caregiver stress; mental and emotional strain; feelings of burden; and even the risk of mortality. Specifically for caregivers of adults with physical disabilities (AWPD), it is appreciated that caregiving is a life-changing experience as major modifications have to be made. These numerous changes have been reported to expedite the manifestation of stress that is differently perceived by the caregivers. Caregivers of AWPD are therefore anticipated to be at high risk of stress as this type of caregiving has been reported to be burdensome. In South Africa, researchers seem to have overlooked caregivers of adults with physical disabilities as a group that potentially have specific and unique perceptions in the role of caregiving. Most importantly the literature seemed limited in presenting how caregivers of AWPD qualify stress levels. Another paucity observed in the existing literature is that there are no accounts by caregivers on how the qualified stress levels impact on the relationship between the caregiver and care recipient. The aim of the current research was to explore perceived stress levels of caregivers of AWPDs. A second aim was to establish how caregivers of AWPD perceive stress levels to impact on the caregiver-care recipient relationship. The results highlighted that caregivers perceived stress levels to be fluctuating with time and affecting their health. According to the perspectives of the caregivers of AWPD, stress has either positive or negative impacts on the caregiver-care recipient communication, cooperation and closeness, differing amongst caregivers.
XL2018

碩士
國立臺北護理健康大學
嬰幼兒保育研究所
105
This study was mainly to investigate the job stress and satisfaction of the infant caregivers in New Taipei City municipal infant and toddler care centers, and to further explore the relationship among background factors, job stress and satisfaction. The research tool is a researcher self developed questionnaire on the job stress and satisfaction of the infant caregivers. Subjects of the research were 550 infant caregivers from 45 New Tiapei City municipal infant care centers. A survey self-structured questionnaire collected by mail. 541 valid questionnaires were returned (98%). Data collected were analyzed with IBM SPSS 20.0 for windows. Descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient and stepwise multiple regression analysis are applied, and the results of the statistical analyses are as follow: I.The job stress of the infant caregivers in New Taipei City municipal infant and toddler care centers was between "no stress" and "a little stress", with the average score 1.92. Among the degree of "teaching work stress " is the highest, and the "interpersonal relationships stress " is the lowest. II.The job satisfaction of the infant caregivers in New Taipei City municipal infant and toddler care centers were between "partly agree" and "totally agree", with the average score 2.68. Among them, the degree of "personal satisfaction" is the highest, and the "welfare of job satisfaction" is the lowest. III.The degrees of job stress for infant caregivers in New Taipei City municipal infant and toddler care centers were significantly different due to age, marital status, children's current situation, educational background, class status, weekly working hours, monthly salary. IV.The degrees of job satisfaction for infant caregivers in New Taipei City municipal infant and toddler care centers were significantly different due to the past years of work, service area, current work year, class status, weekly working hours. V.The job satisfaction of the infant caregivers in New Taipei City municipal infant and toddler care centers will be affected by the job stress, the overall interpretation of variability of 21.3%. According to the above findings, recommendations were given to the New Taiepi City government as well as central government.

The burden of caregiving is alarmingly high in South Africa, where one in every three people admitted in hospitals, is HIV positive. A great number of AIDS patients end up being cared for at home by their families, but mostly by volunteer caregivers. The conditions in which caregivers work under, leave much to be desired, hence work related conditions are a probable cause for high stress levels among volunteer caregivers of people living with HIV/AIDS. This study sought to investigate stress factors of volunteer caregivers of people living with HIV/AIDS and the influence of social capital on high stress levels. Within a South African caregiving setting, social capital influence has not been explored. In a culture where silence and stigmatisation of people living with HIV/AIDS and caregivers is high, this study tries to locate participation of close friends and family, local organizations and government in dealing with caregiving work and support. The study was conducted in 13 semi rural communities in Durban KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. A survey was used to collect data, and analysis was conducted using quantitative methods. The sample comprised of 127 women from an organization called Community Outreach Centre. The greater (92.2%) of the total sample reported above 50% of stress levels. The findings indicated that caregiving work require urgent support from organizations and government. It was also evident that organizations within communities do not work together nor support each other in dealing with caregiving problems. Contrary to the existing literature, the results also showed that the more social capital elements such as social cohesion and social action at a bridging level increased, the more stressed volunteer caregivers became.
Thesis (M.Soc.Sci.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

碩士
國立屏東科技大學
企業管理系所
100
Motivated by a dearth of research on stressors, job stress, and employee performance associated with the phenomenon of outsourcing system adopted by organizations. The present article has written much ink regarding the relationship between stressors, job stress, and employee performance among outsourcing employees in Pertamina, Exploration and Production Business Unit, Tanjung, South Kalimantan, Indonesia. Given that, we posit job stress as a mediator, hierarchical regression analysis proposed by Baron and Kenny was employed in order to examine the relationship. Moreover, data were obtained from 209 workers who enrolled as an outsourcing employee. As expected, the current article revealed that job stress fully mediates the relationship between stressors and employee performance. Besides, the article conveyed clearly the empirical relationship between stressors, job stress, and employee performance which is not only significant, but also portrayed a curve relationship. Ultimately, the academic and practical implications were discussed.

Many of the caring tasks previously done by health care professionals are these days handled by caregivers. Caregivers are selected, trained and to a certain extend supervised. Little attention is however given to the effects that care giving has on their physical and mental health and own needs for caring and support. This study is an exploratory, qualitative and quantitative investigation into the effects of care giving on the physical and mental health of caregivers in HIV and AIDS programmes to determine their needs for ongoing support. A literature study was supplemented by an empirical investigation. The literature study and empirical investigation proved that care giving has a tremendous impact on the lives of caregivers. Recommendations resulting from the study are the need for more education and skills for caregivers, support through counselling, debriefing and support groups, policies and guidelines that makes provision for caregivers to be registered and receive a fixed income.
Social Work
M. A. ((SS)(Mental Health)Social Work)

The aim of this research was to explore the challenges faced by women providing home-based care to those infected and affected by HIV and AIDS. The specific objectives of the study were to explore the gender-related, sociocultural and socioeconomic challenges faced by these women; and to investigate best practices in home- based care. An exploration of the challenges women experience in their communities as they provide care for the HIV and AIDS infected and affected is located within a gender and power framework. Feminist theories are also used to try and explain the reasons behind the differences and inequalities that exist in the community, particularly as regards the women who provide home-based care. A qualitative study, which used both qualitative and participatory methods of data gathering, was undertaken in 2014 in Mzimba, Malawi. Data was collected from 26 women participants by means of Critical Incident Narrative interviews (5), Individual In-Depth Interviews (5), and two Focus Group Discussions (6 and 10 participants respectively). Three Key Informant Interviews were conducted with a Ministry of Local Government official, another with a Nursing sister at the Mzimba District Hospital Tuberculosis Ward, and the Mzimba District Hospital Home-based care Coordinator. Purposive and snowballing sampling techniques were used to recruit the research participants. A topic guide was used in critical incident narrative interviews. An interview schedule consisting open-ended questions and face interviews were used for the Individual In-depth Interviews. A topic guide was used for the Focus Group Discussions. All the data collection instruments were guided by the themes of social, economic, cultural, psychological challenges; food security, and coping mechanisms. An interview schedule consisting of open-ended questions were used for the Key Informant Interviews. A Check List of WHO minimum package for home-based care programmes was used to assess the actual program best practices. The methodology of this study was guided by the WHO framework on home-based care. In this framework, the home-based care programme includes the following elements which make up the minimum package of care: provision of care, continuum of care, education, supplies and equipment, staffing, finance and sustainability, and monitoring and evaluation. Very few studies have been concluded to understand the sociological issues that affect women who provide care to the HIV and AIDS infected and affected in households and communities. It is hoped that this study will in some way address this gap, and that the information and recommendations contained in this thesis will guide policy recommendations in Malawi that will incorporate the lived experiences of those who provide this care. The study revealed that women providing home-based care to the HIV and AIDS infected and affected experience harsh challenges. Women carry the burden of care as traditionally men do not provide care. Women experience extreme deprivation which manifests itself through a number of socio-economic difficulties and these include been shown in their inability to provide for their basic necessities such as food, and other household needs. For most of the women carers, the deprivation is a direct consequence of their low levels of education which rendered them unable to find employment of engage in successful business ownership. The women carers also lack social security in the sense that they do not have access to land for example which could ensure that they have some level of food security. When the main income earner died the women carers and their dependants were left to fend for themselves. Women carers also experienced various psychological problems and these included nightmares, insomnia, depression and these affected their physical health such a few reported lack of appetite for food as a major issue. Women carers and in particular the young women reported that they had to elements which make up the minimum package of care: provision of care, continuum of care, education, supplies and equipment, staffing, finance and sustainability, and monitoring and evaluation. Very few studies have been concluded to understand the sociological issues that affect women who provide care to the HIV and AIDS infected and affected in households and communities. It is hoped that this study will in some way address this gap, and that the information and recommendations contained in this thesis will guide policy recommendations in Malawi that will incorporate the lived experiences of those who provide this care. The study revealed that women providing home-based care to the HIV and AIDS infected and affected experience harsh challenges. Women carry the burden of care as traditionally men do not provide care. Women experience extreme deprivation which manifests itself through a number of socio-economic difficulties and these include been shown in their inability to provide for their basic necessities such as food, and other household needs. For most of the women carers, the deprivation is a direct consequence of their low levels of education which rendered them unable to find employment of engage in successful business ownership. The women carers also lack social security in the sense that they do not have access to land for example which could ensure that they have some level of food security. When the main income earner died the women carers and their dependants were left to fend for themselves. Women carers also experienced various psychological problems and these included nightmares, insomnia, depression and these affected their physical health such a few reported lack of appetite for food as a major issue. Women carers and in particular the young women reported that they had to drop of school to marry when their parents or guardians died. The other dimension to this issue was that the older women carers reported that during their young years, it was common place to find girls who did not attend school or were pressurised to get married because their parents did not believe in educating girls. The background is currently affecting the women carers as they find that they cannot get involved in profitable business or even look for employment. They lack the basic literacy levels that would allow them to be become more productive and ensure financial security. Women carers experienced a number of gender related challenges as they provided care and these included the burden of care being almost solely borne by the women. Women revealed that they have had to use various coping strategies in the face of the overwhelming challenges that they continue to experience. Elderly women have found ways to cope by selling the property such as land and household goods, conducting small scale informal business, and sending the children away to relatives to be fostered. The young women on the other hand have sometimes reverted to some dangerous strategies for coping such as getting a boyfriend to provide for their financial needs, engaged in transactional sex, and some got married very early. The other coping strategies that the young women employed were to conduct small businesses, depended on family and relatives to provide for their various needs. The women volunteers revealed that they used their group as a therapy group, they shared the work, and that they were involved in small scale businesses. The study has also revealed that there is a home-based care programme that is functioning fairly well. However, there are indications that as much as the various players are trying to assist those who are infected and affected by HIV and AIDS, there are severe gaps in the effectiveness of the programme. There is need for a review of the programme so that it answers to the needs of those who are caring for those who are on home-based care i.e. a more rigorous implementation of HBC programme is required. The overall findings of the study indicate that the poverty trap in which the women are caught impacts on every aspect of their existence, with little hope of them ever improving their conditions. There is need for the Malawi government to come up with strategic interventions that would alleviate of women in general but in particular those who are left to provide care at home. Such interventions could include poverty alleviation strategies for women who are providing care to ensure that their situation does not deteriorate once they begin to provide care. Since Malawi is a signatory to the UN Millennium Development Goals, it is important that the plight of women is revisited and find lasting solutions to the challenges that they experience. Women are still lagging behind in education for example. There is need to improve girls and women access to education. The health of women has been affected by HIV and AIDS. The Government of Malawi also needs to review the policies that are in place which address women’s health. Essentially the status of women is need of a major change in order for the country to achieve some level of development which is at par with other countries in the sub-Saharan African region.
Sociology
D. Phil. (Sociology)