How chronic conditions are understood, experienced and managed within African communities in Europe, North America and Australia: A synthesis of qualitative studies
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Date
2023
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
PLOS ONE
Abstract
This review focuses on the lived experiences of chronic conditions among African communities in the Global North, focusing on established immigrant communities as well as recent
immigrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking communities. We conducted a systematic and narrative synthesis of qualitative studies published from inception to 2022, following a search
from nine databases—MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Social Science
Citation Index, Academic Search Complete, CINAHL, SCOPUS and AMED. 39 articles
reporting 32 qualitative studies were included in the synthesis. The studies were conducted
in 10 countries (Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States) and focused on 748 participants from 27
African countries living with eight conditions: type 2 diabetes, hypertension, prostate cancer,
sickle cell disease, chronic hepatitis, chronic pain, musculoskeletal orders and mental health
conditions. The majority of participants believed chronic conditions to be lifelong, requiring
complex interventions. Chronic illness impacted several domains of everyday life—physical,
sexual, psycho-emotional, social, and economic. Participants managed their illness using
biomedical management, traditional medical treatment and faith-based coping, in isolation
or combination. In a number of studies, participants took ‘therapeutic journeys’–which
involved navigating illness action at home and abroad, with the support of transnational therapy networks. Multi-level barriers to healthcare were reported across the majority of studies:
these included individual (changing food habits), social (stigma) and structural (healthcare
disparities). We outline methodological and interpretive limitations, such as limited engagement with multi-ethnic and intergenerational differences. However, the studies provide an
important insights on a much-ignored area that intersects healthcare for African communities in the Global North and medical pluralism on the continent; they also raise important conceptual, methodological and policy challenges for national health programmes on
healthcare disparities.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
chronic conditions, African, Europe, North America, Australia
Citation
Citation: de-Graft Aikins A, Sanuade O, Baatiema L, Adjaye-Gbewonyo K, Addo J, Agyemang C (2023) How chronic conditions are understood, experienced and managed within African communities in Europe, North America and Australia: A synthesis of qualitative studies. PLoS ONE 18(2): e0277325. https://doi.org/10.1371/ journal.pone.0277325