International Journal of Nursing

A Suport Programme for care Givers of Children with Heart Disease in Rural Namibia
Kristofina Amakali, Louis F. Small

Abstract
The majority of children with heart diseases in Namibia receive treatment as outpatients, with their caregivers responsible fortheir continuing care. To provide the required care for these children,require vigilance on the part of the caregivers. Many of these children reside in rural areas with their caregiverswho might only have a limited educational background, and with limited financial resources as they depend on subsistence agriculture for a living. The development of this support programme originated from the results of a study to answer the question on how caregivers of children with heart diseases from the rural areas in Namibia manage this responsibility. As a results, a programme of interventions for home-based health care to facilitate the caregiver’s coping with the demands of care was developed, implemented and evaluated.The findings of outcomes evaluation indicated that the caregivers gained knowledge about the child’s condition, skills for providing care at home and the information about community-based resources that can provide them with support to cope. If extended to many families of similar context, the programme interventions can render caring for a child with a heart disease at home bearable. This paper describes the implementation of interventionsfor a home-based health care programme, and the subsequent outcomes of the programme evaluation.

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