Systematic Review on Supportive Counselling for Caregivers of Dementia Patients in Sub-Saharan Africa

As people get older, there is an increased tendency to develop health disorders. Dementia has been identified as very prevalent among older people especially those older than 65 years of age. The purpose of the systematic review was to identify and highlight current information, synthesize and appraise evidence as well as bridge any existing knowledge gap in supportive counselling for caregivers of dementia patients in Sub-Saharan Africa. This study aims to investigate support for caregivers, their efficacy, challenges as well as opportunities linked to their implementation. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) using key search terms in conjunction with Boolean operators (OR/AND) was utilized for this review. A total of nine (9) studies which met the inclusion criteria were included in the final synthesis. The findings of this study showed that caregiving for dementia patients in Sub-Saharan Africa is mostly informal and caregivers lacked adequate knowledge on dementia. Also, caregivers suffer significant physical, emotional and psychological distress as a result of caring for the ill individuals. There is a gross lack of counselling services for dementia caregivers in SSA and this further intensifies the act of neglect of dementia patients in the region.