A meta-synthesis of care and support for older adults in Africa

ABSTRACT

This meta-synthesis joins together qualitative evidence on the care and support provision for older adults in an African context employing the World Health Organisation International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (WHO-ICF) framework, and Ethics of Care theory as organizing schema. A search of electronic databases, plus other relevant sources produced 465 articles from which nine met inclusion criteria. The synthesis identified findings improving our understanding of the care needs of older adults, and caregiving commitment thoroughly classified by the WHO-ICF and the ethics of care theoretical frameworks. This meta-synthesis reveals the strengths and gaps in knowledge from existing studies and draws attention to the need for further research targeting older adults and caregivers’ needs in Africa.

KEYWORDS:

• Older adults
• ethics of care
• World Health Organisation
• Africa

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Debbie Booths, School of Medicine and Public Health Liberian, for her assistance during the electronic database searches, Alexander Laar for his assistance with data screening and extraction, Prof Mel Gray for her initial contact with KAN, and the Priority Research Center for Generational Health and Ageing for making educational resources available for data analysis and writeup. Moreover, we are grateful to Linda Smythe and Natalie Soeters for their assistance with proofreading.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by The University of Newcastle International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (UNIPRS), Research Training Program (RTP), and The University of Newcastle Research Scholarship Central 50:50 (UNRSC50:50). This research was supported by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research [project number CE170100005]. Independent reviewer (AMJD) is supported by a Research Training Program (RTP), University of Newcastle PhD Scholarship and Hunter Medical Research Institute/Emlyn and Jennie Thomas Postgraduate Medical Research Scholarship.