Informal Support Networks of Tanzanians With Chronic Diseases: Predictors of Support Provision and Treatment Adherence

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the role of NCD patients’ social ties as informal caregivers and whether receiving their support is associated with engagement in care.Methods: NCD outpatients (N2 = 100) in rural Tanzania completed a cross-sectional questionnaire to characterize the support role of their social ties (N1 = 304). Bivariate analyses explored predictors of social support and whether social support is associated with engagement in care.Results: This study found that 87% of participants had health insurance, yet 25% received financial support for financing healthcare. Patient gender, age and marital status were found to be important predictors of social support, with NCD-related disability and disease severity being predictive to a lesser degree. Monthly receipt of both material and non-material support were associated with increased odds of adherence to prescribed medications.Conclusion: These findings indicate that patients’ social ties play an important role in filling the gaps in formal social health protection and incur substantial costs by doing so. The instrumental role of even non-material social support in promoting engagement in care deserves greater attention when developing policies for improving this population’s engagement in care.

Examining the Utilization of Social Capital by Ghanaians When Seeking Care for Chronic Diseases: A Personal Network Survey

“…In our Supplementary Material we also provide separate analyses for emotional support and informational support, allowing for a more comprehensive examination of the data. We quantified social support using a categorical measure of frequency, which we converted to a count of person-days of support per month (as seen in Supplementary Table S1) [21,22]. We used descriptive statistics to explore participant characteristics and participant-level summaries of network and support characteristics, and bivariate analyses to explore predictors of support provision.…”

“…The questionnaire, described in greater detail in the Supplementary Material , is similar to that used in a previous study [ 21 ]. We first collected information on participants’ sociodemographic information and chronic disease history before asking participants to list the six most important adults in their lives and provide information on the informal social support provided by these members of their social network ( Supplementary Box S1 ).…”