Psychosocial Impact of Sickle Cell Disease and Diabetes Mellitus on Affected Children and Their Parents in Khartoum State, Sudan

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the psychosocial impact of sickle cell disease (SCD) and diabetes mellitus on children and their parents in Sudan, and the relationship between socioeconomic status and psychosocial issues. A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted among n = 320 children aged 6–12 years, of whom n = 170 were diagnosed with SCD, n = 150 children with diabetes mellitus and their parents. The strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ scale) was used to assess the psychosocial aspect of children. Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale -21 Items (DASS 21) was used to assess the psychological well-being of the caregivers. Data on psychological problems of children with SCD showed that 66.5% had emotional symptoms, 18.2% had conduct problems and 19.4% hyperactivity. Data of parents showed that 45.9% of parents did not experience depression; 27.9% were moderately depressed group. Data on psychological problems among children with diabetes showed that 57.3% experienced emotional symptoms, conduct problems were close to the average among 66%. Data on psychological problems among parents of children with diabetes showed that 45.3% of parents did not experience depression; 22.7% belonged to the moderately depressed group. Psychosocial problems were common both among children and parents. More research is needed in the context of caring for a child with chronic diseases and the role of health care providers in adapting and mitigating psychological problems among both parents and children.

Health and economic impact of caregiving on informal caregivers of people with chronic diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review

“…The proportion of non-familial caregivers was less than 10% in each of the seven (14.9%) articles (27,32,34,37,45,48,60) where they were part of the sampled populations. In 19% (9/47) of the articles (12,36,47,51,58,61–64), the participants were caregivers of children with chronic diseases. More than half of the articles (53.2%, 25/47) focused on caregivers of people with cancers (9,11,12,29,31,33,37,39,42,43,45,48,53,54,56–58,60–67).…”

“…The articles were from fourteen countries representing all the sub-regions of SSA. The highest number of articles (11/47) were from Nigeria (29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39) and South Africa (11,26,27,(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47), while each of the following countries had one (1/47) article; Togo (48), Zimbabwe (49), Kenya (50), Sudan (51), Democratic Republic of Congo (52) and Cameroon (25). Among the articles from South Africa, two used data from the same study (42,43).…”

“…Impact on the physical health of ICG (21,25,30,35,38,40,43,45,48,50,54,64) 2. Impact on the mental health of ICG (21,25,28,29,32,34,40,(43)(44)(45)(47)(48)(49)51,52,(55)(56)(57)(58)(59)(60)(61)(62)…”

“…The act of caregiving had a profound effect on the mental wellbeing of care providers as stated in more than half (23) of the articles (21,25,28,29,32,34,40,(43)(44)(45)(47)(48)(49)51,52,(55)(56)(57)(58)(59)(60)(61)(62).…”

“…(47) Another expressed the fear that comes with such activities: "… The family members you stay with do want to assist with injecting the child but they are scared -so sometimes you're the only one who's taking care of the child." (47) Five quantitative articles (28,51,52,57,60) explored the prevalence of anxiety among caregivers and found it to be in the range of 21.6% to 45%.…”