1School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Rwanda, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Kigali, Rwanda/Lecture at Kibogora Polytechnic
2Rory Meyer's College of Nursing, New York University, New York, USA
3School of Nursing, University of Illinois, Chicago, USA
4Philipps-University Marburg, Germany
American Journal of Cancer Prevention.
2024,
Vol. 11 No. 1, 12-20
DOI: 10.12691/ajcp-11-1-3
Copyright © 2024 Science and Education PublishingCite this paper: Jean Claude Twahirwa, Anita Collins, Rebecca White, Nsengiyumva Jean Paul. Knowledge and Home Caregiver’s Experiences of Palliative Health Care Team Support in Pain Management of Cancer Patients in Rwanda.
American Journal of Cancer Prevention. 2024; 11(1):12-20. doi: 10.12691/ajcp-11-1-3.
Correspondence to: Jean Claude Twahirwa, School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Rwanda, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Kigali, Rwanda/Lecture at Kibogora Polytechnic. Email:
twahirwajeanclaude1@gmail.comAbstract
Background Pain is highly prevalent in the general patient population worldwide. Persons suffering from chronic illness are at increased risk of untreated pain, including cancer patients managed in home-based care services. Pain management involves a multidisciplinary team engagement and home-based caregivers need to have educational support, as well as pain management skills for their effective contribution. Objective To assess the knowledge received and explore caregiver’s experience in pain management for cancer patients in a home-based care service in Rwanda. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional design study was conducted at Kibogora hospital catchment area. The sample comprised of 120 in-home caregivers recruited from patient’s cancer follow up in palliative care service. The questionnaire was developed from a study named knowledge and attitudes survey regarding pain and Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Results The results of this study revealed that health care team supports palliative home caregivers which enabled them to care terminally ill cancer pain in home without affect. Conclusion Health care team support Palliative home caregivers with knowledge to care patient with cancer pain with satisfactory in Rwanda however there is still a need to increase the effort of support and follow up with involvement of a multiciliary team.
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