Interest in Communication Technology by Rural Caregivers of Adolescents with Mental Health Issues in South Africa: The Mmogo-Method ®.

This study aimed to explore caregivers' interest in using communication technology to provide support to address challenges. This study involved a visual-based narrative inquiry that gathered data through the Mmogo-method®. Three (n = 3) groups were held with rural caregivers (n = 17) of adolescents with mental health issues in a rural area in the Free State province of South Africa during 2017. Three themes captured challenges confronting caregivers, namely, psychosocial, social resources, and informational challenges. Interest in communication technology was captured in a fourth theme. The findings indicate that communication technology can address caregivers' challenges by providing support and information to caregivers in rural areas. Communication technology, including mobile phones, electronic devices, and the Internet, has transformed healthcare services and proved to be valuable in resource constraint environments. PMID: 32633169 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Issues in Mental Health Nursing - Category: Nursing Tags: Issues Ment Health Nurs Source Type: research