Background: A rapid increase in community transmission of COVID-19 across the country overwhelmed Uganda’s health care system. In response, the Ministry of Health adopted the home-based care strategy for COVID-19 patients with mild-to-moderate disease. We determined the characteristics, treatment outcomes and experiences of COVID-19 patients under home-based care during the second wave in Kapelebyong district, in eastern Uganda. Methods: We conducted a sequential explanatory mixed-methods study. We first collected quantitative data using an interviewer-administered questionnaire to determine characteristics and treatment outcomes of COVID-19 patients under home-based care. Cured at home was coded as 1 (considered a good outcome) while being admitted to a health facility and/or dying were coded as 0 (considered poor outcomes). Thereafter, we conducted 11 in-depth interviews to explore the experiences of COVID-19 patients under home-based care. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess factors associated with poor treatment outcomes using Stata v.15.0. Thematic content analysis was used to explore lived experiences of COVID-19 patients under home-based care using NVivo 12.0.0 Results: A total of 303 study participants were included. The mean age ± standard deviation of participants was 32.2 years ± 19.9. Majority of the participants [96.0% (289/303)] cured at home, 3.3% (10/303) were admitted to a health facility and 0.7% (2/303) died. Patients above 60 years of age had 17.4 times the odds of having poor treatment outcomes compared to those below 60 years of age (adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 17.4; 95% CI: 2.2–137.6). Patients who spent more than one month under home-based care had 15.3 times the odds of having poor treatment outcomes compared to those that spent less than one month (AOR: 15.3; 95% CI: 1.6–145.7). From the qualitative interviews, participants identified stigma, fear, anxiety, rejection, not being followed up by health workers and economic loss as negative experiences encountered during home-based care. Positive lived experiences included closeness to friends and family, more freedom, and easy access to food. Conclusion: Home-based care of COVID-19 was operational in eastern Uganda. Older age (> 60 years) and prolonged illness (> 1 months) were associated with poor treatment outcomes. Social support was an impetus for home-based care.
We conducted a sequential explanatory mixed-methods study, where quantitative data were collected and analyzed first. This was later followed by qualitative data, which was collected to better understand the experiences of participants under COVID-19 home-based care. The study was conducted between November 2021 and February 2022 in Kapelebyong district in the eastern region of Uganda bordered by Napak district to the north, Katakwi district to the east, Amuria district to the south, Alebtong district to the west and Abim district to the north-west. Kapelebyong has a total population of 168,242 people. Of these, 94,578 (56.2%) are female while 73,664 (43.8%) are male. Kapelebyong district has one constituency of Kapelebyong, 11 sub-county level administrative units, 55 parish level administrative units and 327 villages. The district has the district task force and the sub-county task force for coordination of COVID-19 management. Kapelebyong has 14 health facilities; 1 health center (HC) 4, 3 HC3s (2 Government, 1 private not for profit), 9 HC2s and 1 Nursing home which is private for profit. Services offered include; out patients’ department, maternal and child health, laboratory services, HIV Services, family planning and theater services for only Kapelebyong HC4 with a bed capacity of 85. Health workers from HC3s and HC4 were trained and equipped with knowledge on diagnosis and management of COVID-19 patients under home-based care. Only patients that did not require admission at the time of diagnosis based on a clinician’s assessment were put under home-based care. All COVID-19 patients that needed admission were referred to Soroti regional referral hospital. All COVID-19 patients under home-based care in Kapelebyong district were eligible for this study. COVID-19 patients of all age groups, both male and female diagnosed using a PCR Test or a rapid diagnostic test, put under home-based care in Kapelebyong district and gave informed consent were included in this study. We excluded COVID-19 patients who were too sick to talk or those with severe mental disability. We sampled all COVID-19 patients under home-based care in Kapelebyong district that met the inclusion criteria and this gave us a sample size of 303. This sample size results in an absolute precision of 1.6% to 5.6%, i.e., the difference between the point estimate and the 95% confidence interval (CI) for prevalence values of poor outcomes ranging from 2 to 50%. We used the District Health Office database and health facility data base with locator information of all COVID-19 Patients under home-based care in Kapelebyong district. The district COVID-19 home-based care data are stored in the District Health Information Software 2 (DHIS2) tool. This data was cross-checked to ensure consistency with data at the health facilities stored at the facility COVID-19 home-based care registers. The facility COVID-19 home-based care registers capture identification and location information of all COVID-19 patients under home-based care within their catchment area such as; patients age, sex, date of COVID-19 test, date enrolled onto home-based care, place of residence, telephone number among others. The health facilities also had the list of all community health workers attached to each of these health facilities and their contacts. This information enabled us access all the COVID-19 patients under home-based care in Kapelebyong district. Additionally, the lead researcher in this study was the district focal person for home-based care services in Kapelebyong and played a key role in coordinating COVID-19 home-based care activities, so there was no challenge in accessing and enrolling participants into the study. The dependent variable was treatment outcomes of COVID-19 patients under home-based care. These were divided into good outcome used to define patients that cured at home and poor outcome used to define patients that were admitted to a health facility and/or died while under home care. The independent variables were; socio-demographic factors (age, marital status, tribe, educational level, income levels, occupation, and religion), presence of comorbidities, vaccination status, number of vaccination doses, monthly family income, duration in care and follow up by health workers. We calculated wealth tertiles from an asset based index using principal component analysis. The following assets were considered: radio, television, mobile phone bicycle, motorcycle, car, computer, permanent house and piped water. We used two trained research assistants to collect data electronically using an interviewer administered questionnaire designed in Kobo Toolbox (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA). All participants were followed at their homes and face-to-face interviews were conducted in a secure environment that allowed free interaction between the participant and the interviewer after obtaining written informed consent from the participant. An abstraction tool prepared for the study was used to collect data about the deceased patients from their medical records. We summarized categorical variables as proportions and continuous variables as mean (standard deviation). We computed described analyses to determine the percentage of home-based care patients that cured, those that were eventually hospitalized, and those that were reported as dead at the time of interview. Dead patients were excluded from further analyses since they were not alive to be interviewed. We conducted multivariable logistic regression to determine the factors associated with poor treatment outcomes among COVID-19 patients under home-based care while controlling confounders. Factors with a p-value of less than 0.2 at bivariable analysis, and those known to affect treatment outcomes of COVID-19 patients from literature were included in the multivariable analysis. Adjusted odds ratios (AOR), 95% Confidence interval and p-values were calculated at a statistical significance at a p-value < 0.05. We used Stata V.15.0. (StataCorp LLC, College Station, Texas, United States of America) for analysis. We purposively selected 11 participants among those that were part of the quantitative interviews to explore their experiences while under home-based care. Participants were followed at home. We collected qualitative data on the experiences of patients under home-based care in Kapelebyong district using an in-depth interview guide. An interviewer that is experienced in conducting qualitative interviews conducted the face-to-face in-depth interviews in a secure environment that allowed free interaction between the interviewer and the participant. Probing questions were used to get rich information on the issues that arose during the discussions. The interviews would take between 20 and 30 min. With permission from the participants, the interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and translated into English for those conducted in Ateso. We used thematic content analysis to analyze the data. The analysis followed a five-step process. First, we read through the transcripts and became familiar with the data. Secondly, we organized data in a meaningful way and generated the initial codes. Once the data had been sufficiently coded and saturation reached, we identified themes. We then reviewed and modified themes and put together all data relevant to each theme. Data were managed in NVivo 12.0.0 (QRS International, Cambridge, MA). Examples of meanings units, codes, categories and themes from qualitative content of interviews about experiences of COVID-19 patients under home-based care are shown in Table Table11. Examples of meanings units, codes, categories and themes from qualitative content of interviews about experiences of COVID-19 patients under home-based care When my son's cough intensified, I called the doctor and they sent an ambulance to come and take him” [P11, 60 years female, IDI] When I got COVID-19, waking up became a problem because I had general body pains so it became a bit difficult. I would wake up at around 9-10 am and I wouldn't have energy to get out of bed” [P01, 35 years, female, IDI] After two weeks, I went back to hospital to do a test to confirm if I had recovered and I found the laboratory closed. I was then sent out by a health worker saying that they didn't know if I had recovered or not. I felt segregated, lonely and isolated” [P01, 35 years female, IDI] There's no way I could move anywhere because when people see you, they would think you're spreading the disease. Even the pupils I was teaching, they could see me and run. They even nicknamed, "corona". One day I tried to move out because they'd told her to be doing exercise, when the children saw them, they started shouting, "corona, corona" and we decided to come back home” … [P11, 60 years, female, IDI]
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