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Economic burden of family caregiving for elderly population in southern Ghana: the case of a peri-urban district

Overview of attention for article published in International Journal for Equity in Health, January 2017
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (84th percentile)
  • Above-average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (63rd percentile)

Mentioned by

news
1 news outlet
policy
1 policy source

Citations

dimensions_citation
57 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
244 Mendeley
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Title
Economic burden of family caregiving for elderly population in southern Ghana: the case of a peri-urban district
Published in
International Journal for Equity in Health, January 2017
DOI 10.1186/s12939-016-0511-9
Pubmed ID
Authors

Stephen Tettey Nortey, Genevieve Cecilia Aryeetey, Moses Aikins, Djesika Amendah, Justice Nonvignon

Abstract

Health systems in low and lower-middle income countries, particularly in sub-Sahara Africa, often lack the specialized personnel and infrastructure to provide comprehensive care for elderly/ageing populations. Close-to-client community-based approaches are a low-cost way of providing basic care and social support for elderly populations in such resource-constrained settings and family caregivers play a crucial role in that regard. However, family caregiving duties are often unremunerated and their care-related economic burden is often overlooked though this knowledge is important in designing or scaling up effective interventions. The objective of this study, therefore, was to estimate the economic burden of family caregiving for the elderly in southern Ghana. The study was a retrospective cross-sectional cost-of-care study conducted in 2015 among family caregivers for elderly registered for a support group in a peri-urban district in southern Ghana. A simple random sample of 98 respondents representative of the support group members completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Costs were assessed over a 1-month period. Direct costs of caregiving (including out-of-pocket costs incurred on health care) as well as productivity losses (i.e. indirect cost) to caregivers were analysed. Intangible costs were assessed using the 12-item Zarit burden interview (ZBI) tool and the financial cost dimension of the cost of care index. The estimated average cost of caregiving per month was US$186.18, 66% of which was direct cost. About 78% of the family caregivers in the study reported a high level of caregiving burden (as measured with the ZBI) with females reporting a relatively higher level than males. Further, about 87% of the family caregivers reported a high level of financial stress as a result of caregiving for their elderly relative. The study shows that support/caregiving for elderly populations imposes economic burden on families, potentially influencing the economic position of families with attendant implications for equity and future family support for such vulnerable populations.

Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 244 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 244 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 43 18%
Student > Ph. D. Student 30 12%
Student > Bachelor 25 10%
Researcher 23 9%
Student > Postgraduate 20 8%
Other 35 14%
Unknown 68 28%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Nursing and Health Professions 40 16%
Social Sciences 38 16%
Medicine and Dentistry 29 12%
Business, Management and Accounting 9 4%
Economics, Econometrics and Finance 9 4%
Other 38 16%
Unknown 81 33%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 10. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 02 April 2021.
All research outputs
#2,963,288
of 22,953,506 outputs
Outputs from International Journal for Equity in Health
#558
of 1,917 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#62,889
of 421,972 outputs
Outputs of similar age from International Journal for Equity in Health
#14
of 38 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,953,506 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 86th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,917 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 11.2. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 70% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 421,972 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 84% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 38 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 63% of its contemporaries.