Experiences of HIV/AIDS caregiving by informal caregivers and the experiences of receiving care in sub-Saharan Africa: a qualitative systematic review protocol.

Abstract

Objectives: The objective of this review is to identify, appraise, and synthesize available evidence on the experiences of informal caregivers providing HIV/AIDS care, as well as the experiences of care received by people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) in sub-Saharan Africa.

Introduction: PLHIV share the burden of the disease with their informal caregivers throughout their lives. Experiences of HIV/AIDS-related caregiving and care-receiving have a significant impact on the treatment and physiological health outcomes of both caregivers and care recipients. However, there is limited evidence regarding how caregiving approaches and caregiving experiences influence HIV/AIDS care.

Eligibility criteria: This review will consider qualitative studies on informal caregivers providing HIV/AIDS-related care as well as the experiences of PLHIV receiving care in sub-Saharan Africa. Eligible studies will focus on both the positive and negative experiences of informal caregivers and PLHIV throughout the HIV/AIDS caregiving continuum.

Methods: This review will follow the JBI methodology for systematic reviews of qualitative evidence. A comprehensive search strategy will be developed to retrieve relevant articles from MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), PsycINFO (Ovid), and CINAHL (EBSCOhost). The review will be conducted by 2 reviewers who will independently perform study selection, critical appraisal, data extraction, data synthesis, and assessment of confidence in the findings.

Review registration: PROSPERO CRD42023470996.