Background: Extended families of Africa in the past easily absorbed
orphans, however, because of the increased numbers of orphans due to AIDS,
and dwindling support from other sources, the extended family finds it difficult to
cope with the AIDS orphan crisis. Empirical evidence indicates an elevated risk
of psychosocial distress among AIDS orphans compared to non-orphans. The
aim of the study was to determine adequacy of external support, to assess the
psychosocial state of orphans, and to find out from orphans how they perceive
and rate the care received from primary caregivers.
Methods: Two hundred and ninety-two AIDS orphans were purposively
selected, and mixed-method of data collection was used. The quantitative data
consisted of responses from orphans with interview questionnaires, whilst the
qualitative data consisted of responses from in-depth interviews with 20 orphans.
Results: The majority of orphans-69.7% and 76.4% rated the support
receive they from extended family and external sources respectively as poor.
Only about21% rated care from primary caregiver as excellent. Although
about 88% of orphans stay close to caregivers, almost 40% were unhappy or
depressed.
Conclusion: We recommend that orphan care management policies and
interventions should look into the relationship of orphans with their primary
caregivers and the extended family support systems, and draw up programmes
to improve these relationships and foster sense of belongingness for orphans.