The Perfidy of Stigma Experienced by the Palliative CHBC of Kanye in Botswana.
OBJECTIVE
To explore and assess the magnitude of stigma and its impact to palliative care giving.


OBJECTIVE
To involve the palliative caregivers in exploring the impact of stigma in their care giving.


METHODS
The study was exploratory in nature and used attracted qualitative design and interviewed 82 palliative caregivers in 10 focus groups using an interview guide as a data collection instrument, and five CHBC nurses on one-to-one in-depth interviews, still guided by an interview guide that differed only slightly with the one for the caregivers.


RESULTS
THE STUDY FINDINGS REVEALED THAT STIGMA AND DISCRIMINATION WAS IMMENSELY PERFIDIOUS DUE TO: (1) Discrimination against caregivers by the service providers, especially at the Kanye referral hospital; (2) Refusal of youth to help the elderly caregivers; (3) Shunning of government assistance packages by caregivers and their clients; (4) Caregivers secretly taking away their clients to faraway places for assistance; (5) Caregivers and their clients turning to alternative therapies from the traditional healers; (6) Caregivers and clients having inadequate assistance.


CONCLUSIONS
We recommend strong anti-stigma education and campaign by the government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and all the civil society bodies and campaigners.
Kangethe
Simon
S
Department of Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Centre for Continuous Education (CCE), University of Botswana, Botswana.