JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

People living with HIV/AIDS and their informal caregivers (usually family members) in Malawi do not have adequate access to patient-centred care, particularly in remote rural areas of the country due to the still high burden of HIV/AIDS, coupled with a fragmented and patchy healthcare system. Chronic conditions require self-care strategies, which are now promoted both in developed and developing contexts but are still only emerging in Sub-Saharan African countries.

Objective:

This paper explores the effects of the implementation of a short-term intervention aimed at supporting Malawian informal caregivers of people living with HIV/AIDS in their caring role and improving their wellbeing. The intervention included the dissemination of health advisory messages on topics related to the management of HIV/AIDS over a period of six months, via the WhatsApp audio function to 94 caregivers attending peer support groups in the rural area of Namwera.

Methods:

We adopted a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach, whereby the health advisory messages were designed and formulated in collaboration with informal caregivers, local medical doctors, social care workers, and community chiefs and informed by prior discussions with informal caregivers. Feedback on the quality, relevance and applicability of the messages was gathered via individual interviews with the caregivers.

Results:

The results show that the messages were widely disseminated beyond the support groups via word of mouth and highlight a very high level of adoption of the advice contained in the messages by caregivers, who reported immediate (short-term) and longer-term self-assessed benefits for themselves, their families and their local communities.

Conclusions:

This study offers a novel perspective on how combining CBPR with a cost-effective, health-oriented informational intervention such as this can be implemented to support effective HIV/AIDS self-care and facilitate informal caregivers’ role.