Psychosocial Supports Offered to People with Psychotic Disorders by Community Members in Temeke District, Tanzania

Abstract

This study was about psychosocial support offered to people with psychotic disorders by community members in Temeke district, Tanzania. The findings answered two questions which are: what is the quality of psychological support offered by community members to people suffering from psychotic disorders? To what extent do the people with the psychotic disorder have been socially supported and included in the social network within their communities? Both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection were used and a descriptive design was adopted. Participants were People with Psychotic Disorders (PPDs) who had received treatment at the psychiatric unit of Temeke district hospital in 2020. A total of 80 PPDs were randomly sampled, of which 57answered study questions by themselves, and 23 were presented by their caregivers. The study noted that both psychological and social supports were rarely given to people with psychotic disorders by community members. It was further revealed that there was a strong and significant association between psychosocial supports and hospitalisation or prognosis of PPDs (p-value < 0.0001). In which one unit increase in psychological supports could significantly reduce hospitalisation of PPDs by 0.365 units (p-value 0.025). Meanwhile, one unit increase in social supports could significantly reduce hospitalisation by 0.22 units (p-value 0.038). Hence, psychosocial supports from community members were significantly important in reducing hospitalisation and improving the prognosis of PPDs. It was recommended that the community should be educated on the causes, treatment, and importance of ‘psychosocial support’ in the comprehensive treatment of psychotic disease.