IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0199830.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic burden of caregiving for persons with severe mental illness in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review

Author

Listed:
  • Rebecca Addo
  • Samuel Agyei Agyemang
  • Yesim Tozan
  • Justice Nonvignon

Abstract

Background: Over the past two decades, the focus of mental health care has shifted from institutionalisation to community-based programs and short hospital stays. This change means that there is an increased role for caregivers, mostly family members, in managing persons with mental illness. Although there is evidence to support the benefits of deinstitutionalisation of mental health care, there are also indications of substantial burden experienced by caregivers; the evidence of which is limited in sub-Saharan Africa. However, knowledge of the nature and extent of this burden can inform the planning of mental health services that will not only benefit patients, but also caregivers and households. Objective: To systematically review the available evidence on the economic burden of severe mental illness on primary family caregivers in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted in Pubmed, CINAHL, Econlit and Web of Science with no date limitations up to September 2016 using keywords such as "burden", "cost of illness" and "economic burden" to identify relevant published literature. Articles were appraised using a standardised data extraction tool covering themes such as physical, psychological and socioeconomic burden. Results: Seven papers were included in the review. Caregivers were mostly family members with a mean age of 46.34, female and unemployed. Five out of seven studies (71%) estimated the full economic burden of severe mental illness on caregivers. The remainder of studies just described the caregiver burden. All seven papers reported moderate to severe caregiver burden characterised by financial constraint, productivity loss and lost employment. The caregiver’s level of income and employment status, severity of patient's condition and duration of mental illness were reported to negatively affect the economic burden experienced by caregivers. Conclusion: There is paucity of studies reporting the burden of severe mental illness on caregivers in sub-Saharan Africa. Further research is needed to present the nature and extent of this burden to inform service planning and policymaking.

Suggested Citation

  • Rebecca Addo & Samuel Agyei Agyemang & Yesim Tozan & Justice Nonvignon, 2018. "Economic burden of caregiving for persons with severe mental illness in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(8), pages 1-12, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0199830
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0199830
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0199830
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0199830&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0199830?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tarricone, Rosanna, 2006. "Cost-of-illness analysis: What room in health economics?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 51-63, June.
    2. Nagede Costa & Helene Derumeaux & Thomas Rapp & Valérie Garnault & Laura Ferlicoq & Sophie Gillette & Sandrine Andrieu & Bruno Vellas & Michel Lamure & Alain Grand & Laurent Molinier, 2012. "Methodological considerations in cost of illness studies on Alzheimer disease," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 1-12, December.
    3. Drummond, Michael F. & Sculpher, Mark J. & Claxton, Karl & Stoddart, Greg L. & Torrance, George W., 2015. "Methods for the Economic Evaluation of Health Care Programmes," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, edition 4, number 9780199665884, Decembrie.
    4. Bauer, Jan Michael & Sousa-Poza, Alfonso, 2015. "Impacts of Informal Caregiving on Caregiver Employment, Health, and Family," IZA Discussion Papers 8851, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mirjana Mikulić & Ivan Ćavar & Darija Jurišić & Ivana Jelinčić & Dunja Degmečić, 2023. "Burden and Psychological Distress in Caregivers of Persons with Addictions," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-10, April.
    2. Olindah Silaule & Nokuthula Gloria Nkosi & Fasloen Adams, 2024. "Service providers’ perspectives on the challenges of informal caregiving and the need for caregiver-orientated mental health services in rural South Africa: A descriptive study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(8), pages 1-22, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lili Wang & Lei Si & Fiona Cocker & Andrew J. Palmer & Kristy Sanderson, 2018. "A Systematic Review of Cost-of-Illness Studies of Multimorbidity," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 15-29, February.
    2. Susanne Mayer & Jonah Spickschen & K Viktoria Stein & Richard Crevenna & Thomas E Dorner & Judit Simon, 2019. "The societal costs of chronic pain and its determinants: The case of Austria," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(3), pages 1-18, March.
    3. Bugge, Christoffer & Sæther, Erik Magnus & Brustugun, Odd Terje & Kristiansen, Ivar Sønbø, 2021. "Societal cost of cancer in Norway –Results of taking a broader cost perspective," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(8), pages 1100-1107.
    4. Alemayehu Hailu & Bernt Lindtjørn & Wakgari Deressa & Taye Gari & Eskindir Loha & Bjarne Robberstad, 2017. "Economic burden of malaria and predictors of cost variability to rural households in south-central Ethiopia," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(10), pages 1-16, October.
    5. Margherita d’Errico & Milena Pavlova & Federico Spandonaro, 2022. "The economic burden of obesity in Italy: a cost-of-illness study," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 23(2), pages 177-192, March.
    6. Lien Nguyen & Hanna Jokimäki & Ismo Linnosmaa & Eirini-Christina Saloniki & Laurie Batchelder & Juliette Malley & Hui Lu & Peter Burge & Birgit Trukeschitz & Julien Forder, 2022. "Valuing informal carers’ quality of life using best-worst scaling—Finnish preference weights for the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit for carers (ASCOT-Carer)," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 23(3), pages 357-374, April.
    7. Dominik Grega & Jozef Kolář, 2019. "Historical analysis of pharmacoeconomic terms," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 119(3), pages 1643-1654, June.
    8. Valentin Brodszky & Zsuzsanna Beretzky & Petra Baji & Fanni Rencz & Márta Péntek & Alexandru Rotar & Konstantin Tachkov & Susanne Mayer & Judit Simon & Maciej Niewada & Rok Hren & László Gulácsi, 2019. "Cost-of-illness studies in nine Central and Eastern European countries," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 20(1), pages 155-172, June.
    9. L'Heureux, Jacynthe & McTaggart-Cowan, Helen & Johns, Gary & Chen, Lin & Steiner, Theodore & Tocher, Paige & Sun, Huiying & Zhang, Wei, 2023. "How to present work productivity loss results from clinical trials for patients and caregivers? A mixed methods approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 328(C).
    10. Saif Elayan & Viola Angelini & Erik Buskens & Alice Boer, 2024. "The Economic Costs of Informal Care: Estimates from a National Cross-Sectional Survey in The Netherlands," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 25(8), pages 1311-1331, November.
    11. Tóthová Dominika, 2020. "Respiratory Diseases in Children and Air Pollution – The Cost of – Illness Assessment in Ostrava City," Central European Journal of Public Policy, Sciendo, vol. 14(1), pages 43-56, June.
    12. Irina Pokhilenko & Luca M. M. Janssen & Aggie T. G. Paulus & Ruben M. W. A. Drost & William Hollingworth & Joanna C. Thorn & Sian Noble & Judit Simon & Claudia Fischer & Susanne Mayer & Luis Salvador-, 2023. "Development of an Instrument for the Assessment of Health-Related Multi-sectoral Resource Use in Europe: The PECUNIA RUM," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 155-166, March.
    13. Chiranjeev Sanyal & Don Husereau, 2020. "Systematic Review of Economic Evaluations of Services Provided by Community Pharmacists," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 375-392, June.
    14. Yesim Tozan & Joshua Kiyingi & Sooyoung Kim & Flavia Namuwonge & Florence Namuli & Vicent Ssentumbwe & Rashida Namirembe & Edwinnah Kasidi & Ozge Sensoy Bahar & Mary M Mckay & Fred M Ssewamala, 2024. "Micro-costing analysis of a combination intervention for improved mental health and HIV risk behaviors among school-going adolescent girls in Uganda," PLOS Mental Health, Public Library of Science, vol. 1(7), pages 1-14, December.
    15. Joanna M Charles & Deirdre M Harrington & Melanie J Davies & Charlotte L Edwardson & Trish Gorely & Danielle H Bodicoat & Kamlesh Khunti & Lauren B Sherar & Thomas Yates & Rhiannon Tudor Edwards, 2019. "Micro-costing and a cost-consequence analysis of the ‘Girls Active’ programme: A cluster randomised controlled trial," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(8), pages 1-17, August.
    16. Dong-Won Kang & Patricio B. Lynn & Li Wang & Shouhao Zhou & Chan Shen, 2025. "Cost-Effectiveness of Fruquintinib for Refractory Metastatic Colorectal Cancer in the USA," PharmacoEconomics - Open, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 93-101, January.
    17. Andrew J. Mirelman & Miqdad Asaria & Bryony Dawkins & Susan Griffin & Richard Cookson & Peter Berman, 2020. "Fairer Decisions, Better Health for All: Health Equity and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Paul Revill & Marc Suhrcke & Rodrigo Moreno-Serra & Mark Sculpher (ed.), Global Health Economics Shaping Health Policy in Low- and Middle-Income Countries, chapter 4, pages 99-132, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    18. Valentina Prevolnik Rupel & Marko Ogorevc, 2023. "EQ-5D-5L Value Set for Slovenia," PharmacoEconomics, Springer, vol. 41(11), pages 1515-1524, November.
    19. Julie A. Campbell & Glen J. Henson & Valery Fuh Ngwa & Hasnat Ahmad & Bruce V. Taylor & Ingrid Mei & Andrew J. Palmer, 2025. "Estimation of Transition Probabilities from a Large Cohort (> 6000) of Australians Living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) for Changing Disability Severity Classifications, MS Phenotype, and Disease-Modif," PharmacoEconomics, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 223-239, February.
    20. Quitterie Roquebert & Marianne Tenand, 2024. "Informal care at old age at home and in nursing homes: determinants and economic value," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 25(3), pages 497-511, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0199830. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.