Experiences of caregivers regarding homecare of children with type1-diabetes mellitus within Vhembe District of Limpopo Province, South Africa

Abstract

Worldwide, Type-1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) was a devastating condition for both the diagnosed children and caregivers taking care of them. These challenges were drastically affecting caregivers in rendering the required homecare service for their patients. Vhembe District had been experiencing a rise in the number of children who were readmitted with T1DM-disease. The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of caregivers regarding homecare of children with T1DM1-disease within Vhembe District, Limpopo Province. The study also adopted qualitative, exploratory and descriptive design approaches while collecting data. Fourteen (14)-caregivers of children diagnosed with T1DM were sampled using non-probability purposive samples. A qualitative nature of the study influenced the use of face-to-face interview technique for data collection which adhered to all precautionary measures of Covid-19 to ensure the safety of both the researcher and participant. Besides this, interviews also have a high response rate when being used for the data collection purposes as the participants are able to interact on comfortable. Tesch’s 8 steps data analysis method was used to analyse the collected data. Ethical considerations and measures were used to ensure trustworthiness hence a qualitative approach had been used for data collection. The current study revealed that caregivers faced various challenges when caring for children with T1DM-disease. Paradoxical experiences were stressed by the caregivers as one of the most challenging experiences when caring for children with T1DM. Similarly, the responsibilities entailed in the provision of care were among other challenges faced by caregivers. In addition, the level or exposure and knowledge related to the provision of care of diabetes patients played a significant role in ensuring sufficient care for children with diabetes. Recommendations which emerged from the developed themes and sub-themes were also discussed in detail, followed by explanations of the findings which emerged before the recommendations had been made. The reason behind this being that findings in any research study came first prior to the explanations of the recommendations.