Nutrition knowledge and care practices of home-based caregivers in Vhembe District, South Africa

Background: Home-based care is provided to clients in their homes to promote and maintain good health, hygiene and nutrition.

Objective: This study assessed nutrition knowledge and care practices of home-based caregivers in Vhembe District, South Africa.

Methods: The design was cross sectional, descriptive and exploratory using quantitative and qualitative approaches. Multistage sampling was used, with convenient selection of two municipalities from four, eight home-based care agencies randomly selected from 96 agencies, 128 caregivers conveniently selected for interviews, 92 caregivers selected for focus group discussions and 28 caregivers selected for observation during home visits. Demographic characteristics, nutrition knowledge and care practices were evaluated using questionnaires, interview guides and observational checklists. Data were analysed using SPSS 22 and thematic analysis for qualitative data.

Results: caregivers (99.2%) were women, 68.7% had secondary education and all had received 59-day training and 64.1% had six to ten years of home-based care experience. Only 0.8% had adequate nutrition knowledge, 45.3% satisfactory knowledge and 53.9% limited to no knowledge. Most care practices reported during the focus group discussions were not observed during home visits.

Conclusion: Nutrition knowledge and care practices of HBC in Vhembe District were found to be inadequate. The nutrition content in the training package should be improved.