Psychosocial aspects of adult cancer patients: A scoping review of sub-Saharan Africa.

OBJECTIVE: Psychosocial aspects of adult cancer patients in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have been described in silos of research articles. Integrative analysis of regional evidence is lacking. This review aimed to describe the scope of existing research on mental health problems, identify research gaps and make informed research, policy and practice recommendations. METHODS: Search was conducted for original peer-reviewed research articles, irrespective of their quality, on psychosocial aspects of cancer in all SSA countries using PubMed, Google Scholar, Google search, African Index Medicus and direct searches of reference list of pertinent journal articles. Publications in English or translated to English were included. Case reports, dissertations, abstracts, publications without primary focus on psychosocial issues, psychosocial issues in children and studies conducted with SSA populations living outside the sub-region were excluded. The methodological framework described by Arksey and O'Malley was used to synthesize and present the results. Inductive approach was used to arrive at the thematic areas. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guideline was used to describe the review. RESULTS: Eighty-three studies conducted across 15 countries were identified. Six thematic areas emerged namely; psychosocial needs, psychiatric disorders, coping strategies, suicidality, psychometrics and psychosocial interventions. Fifteen of 46 countries had at least one study with the majority of articles emanating from Nigeria. Research articles on psychosocial needs, psychiatric morbidities and coping strategies appears adequate for systematic review in SSA region. Despite the overwhelming evidence of high unmet psychosocial needs, a huge gap exists regarding psychosocial interventions. CONCLUSION: Further research is needed into identified gaps in the region and quality of evidence of these studies need to be improved upon. Comprehensive policies and action plan development are sin qua non for addressing psychosocial problems of adults with cancer in SSA.

Placing Care: The Impact of the Physical Environment on Experiences of Providing and Utilizing Palliative Care.

BACKGROUND: Environmental design in palliative and end-of-life care is known to improve care outcomes, service-user satisfaction, and the continuation of service uptake. No study in the literature has investigated the influence of the environment on palliative and end-of-life care in Nigeria or other African contexts. PURPOSE: This study was designed to explore the impact of the physical environment (i.e., place and people) on staff and service users and how these influence the experiences of providing and using palliative and end-of-life care in a Nigerian hospital context. METHODS: Ethnographic methodology was employed because this approach facilitates understanding of environmental realities. This study is part of a larger ethnographic research project developed to uncover aspects of organizational complexities related to the provision and use of palliative and end-of-life care in the Nigerian context. Three hundred fifty hours of participant observation was achieved, and semistructured interviews were used to gather data from 26 participants, including 10 patients, 11 members of a palliative care team, and five hospital managers. Informal chats and photographic capture were additional methods used in data collection. Thematic analysis was conducted to identify and analyze patterns within the collected data. RESULTS: Physical space, equipment, and placing staff were the three primary themes identified. The physical environment was untidy, and the ward layout prevented privacy, dignity, or comfort for patients and families. The equipment was old and inadequate, and the context of care was worsened by insufficient staffing and neglect of the environmental needs of the staff. CONCLUSIONS: Hospital design for palliative and end-of-life care in Nigeria is "autoinhibitory" (a negative feedback mechanism whereby hospital design detracts rather than promote quality of care), and a physical environment that supports the provision and utilization of care must be implemented to promote palliative and end-of-life care success. Urgent policy action is needed to improve environmental and staffing conditions to advance palliative and end-of-life care in Nigeria.

Barriers to the Provision and Utilization of Palliative Care in Africa: A Rapid Scoping Review.

Palliative care (PC) has continued to be less available, underutilized, and unintegrated in many of the healthcare systems, especially in Africa. This scoping review synthesized existing published papers on adult PC in Africa, to report the barriers to PC and to assess the methodologies used in these studies. Eight electronic databases and Google Scholar were searched to identify relevant studies published between 2005 and 2018. Overall, 42 publications (34 empirical studies and 9 reviews) that reported issues related to barriers to adult PC were selected. Three themes identified were individual-level, system-level, and relational barriers. The studies reviewed predominantly utilized cross-sectional and retrospective study design, underscoring the need for more studies employing qualitative design. Findings highlight the need for health education, training opportunities, more funding, communication, and timely referral. Future works could focus on underlying factors to these barriers and ethno-religious perspectives to PC in Africa.

Exploring Organizational Culture Regarding Provision and Utilization of Palliative Care in a Nigerian Context: An Interpretive Descriptive Study.

BACKGROUND: Palliative care (PC) continues to be underutilized in Nigeria, but there is a lack of studies that explore organizational cultural dynamics regarding PC in Nigeria. The study aimed to understand the organizational culture in order to identify organizational enablers and inhibitors of the provision and utilization of PC in a Nigerian context. METHODS: Identification of the organizational culture was developed using a qualitative interpretive descriptive design. Cultural enablers and inhibitors were mapped out using semi-structured interviews with 38 participants, consisting of medical staff, patients, and their relatives. Thematic analysis was used to identify and analyze patterns within the collected data. RESULTS: Three themes were identified: cross-departmental collaborative practice, financial support practice, and continuity of care. The findings suggest that fundamental cultural changes, such as a policy for intradepartmental referral practices, telemedicine, and a welfare support system, are typically required as remedies for the failure to use PC in Nigeria and other similar contexts. CONCLUSIONS: This study offered a new understanding that not revealing deeper shared assumptions, and a shared way of thinking that underpins the PC practice within an organization, will have a negative bearing on organizational PC outcomes.

Social and Health System Complexities Impacting on Decision-Making for Utilization of Oncology and Palliative Care in an African Context: A Qualitative Study.

BACKGROUND: There is a dearth of research focusing on identifying the social complexities impacting on oncology and palliative care (PC), and no study has explored how the health-care system in Nigeria or other African contexts may be influencing utilization of these services. AIM: This study explored how social complexities and the organization of health-care influenced the decision-making process for the utilization of oncology and PC in a Nigerian hospital. METHODS: This qualitative study used an interpretive descriptive design. Data were collected using semistructured interview guides with 40 participants, comprising health-care professionals, patients, and their families. Thematic analysis was conducted to generate and analyze patterns within the data. FINDINGS: Three themes were identified: dysfunctional structural organization of the health-care delivery system, service-users' economic status, and the influence of social networks. The interrelationship between the themes result in patients and their family members decisions either to present late to the hospital, miss their clinical appointments, or not to seek oncological health care and PC. CONCLUSION: This article offers insights into the role of the health-care system, as organized currently in Nigeria, as "autoinhibitory" and not adequately prepared to address the increasing burden of cancer. We therefore argue that there is a need to restructure the Nigerian health-care system to better meet the needs of patients with cancer and their families as failure to do so will strengthen the existing inequalities, discourage usage, and increase mortality.

Construction of meanings during life-limiting illnesses and its impacts on palliative care: Ethnographic study in an African context.

OBJECTIVE: Knowledge about how people make meaning in cancer, palliative, and end-of-life care is particularly lacking in Africa, yet it can provide insights into strategies for improving palliative care (PC). This study explored ways in which cancer patients, their families, and health care professionals (HCPs) construct meaning of their life-limiting illnesses and how this impact on provision and use of PC in a Nigerian hospital. METHODS: This ethnographic study utilised participant observation, informal conversations during observation, and interviews to gather data from 39 participants, comprising service users and HCPs in a Nigerian hospital. Data were analysed using Spradley's framework for ethnographic data analysis. RESULTS: Meaning-making in life-limiting illness was predominantly rooted in belief systems. Most patients and their families, including some HCPs, perceived that cancer was caused by the devil, mystical, or supernatural beings. They professed that these agents manifested in the form of either spiritual attacks or that wicked people in society used either poison or acted as witches/wizards to inflict cancer on someone. These beliefs contributed to either nonacceptance of, or late presentation for, PC by most of patients and their families, while some professionals depended on supernatural powers for divine intervention and tacitly supporting religious practices to achieve healing/cure. CONCLUSIONS: Findings revealed that cultural and religious world views about life-limiting illnesses were used in decision-making process for PC. This, therefore, provided evidence that could improve the clinicians' cultural competence when providing PC to individuals of African descent, especially Nigerians, both in Nigerian societies and in foreign countries.

Understanding the Organization of Hospital-Based Palliative Care in a Nigerian Hospital: An Ethnographic Study.

CONTEXT: Organization and delivery of palliative care (PC) services vary from one country to another. In Nigeria, PC has continued to develop, yet the organization and scope of PC is not widely known by most clinicians and the public. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study is to identify PC services available in a Nigerian Hospital and how they are organized. METHODS: This ethnographic study, utilized documentary analysis, participant observation, and ethnographic interviews (causal chat during observation and individual interviews) to gather data from members of PC team comprising doctors (n = 10), nurses (n = 4), medical social workers (n = 2), a physiotherapist, and a pharmacist, as well nurses from the oncology department (n = 3). Data were analyzed using Spradley's framework for ethnographic data analysis. RESULTS: PC was found to be largely adult patient-centered. A hospital-based care delivery model, in the forms of family meetings, in- and out-patients' consultation services, and a home-based delivery model which is primarily home visits conducted once in a week, were the two models of care available in the studied hospital. The members of the PC team operated two shift patterns from 7:00 am to 2.00 pm and a late shift from 2:00 pm to 7:00 pm instead of 24 h service provision. CONCLUSIONS: Although PC in this hospital has made significant developmental progress, the organization and scope of services are suggestive of the need for more development, especially in manpower and collaborative care. This study provided knowledge that could be used to improve the clinical practice of PC in various cross-cultural Nigerian societies and other African context, as well as revealing areas for PC development.

A qualitative examination of the perceived impact of bureaucratic managerialism on evidence-based practice implementation in Nigeria: a collective case study.

BACKGROUND: Evidence-based practice (EBP) is widely recognised as an essential aspect of contemporary healthcare delivery. However, the rise in cost containment and quest for profitability in healthcare management is found to be compromising implementation of evidence-based initiatives aimed at improving care quality. AIMS: The aim of this work was to examine perspectives of nurses regarding the impact of bureaucratic managerialism on EBP implementation in the Nigerian acute care setting. METHODS: A qualitative case study methodology was utilised to gather data from two large acute care settings. Drawing on semi-structured interviews, 12 staff nurses, 21 ward managers and 2 nurse managers were interviewed. Data were inductively analysed and themes generated. RESULTS: The managerial practice in this context is founded on bureaucratic managerialism, which in turn generated hierarchical constraints that denied nurses the opportunity to self-govern. Implementation of evidence-based initiatives was consequently opposed by the managerial desire to maximise throughput. CONCLUSIONS: There is need for nurse managers to have greater managerial influence, which would allow opportunities for implementing EBPs to be created. Managerial autonomy for nurse managers would allow them to create enabling environments capable of facilitating successful implementation.