{"id":{"repo_id":"cape-town","oai_identifier":"oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/35714"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/cape-town/oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/35714","repository":{"repo_id":"cape-town","name":"University of Cape Town","base_url":"https://open.uct.ac.za/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"The Assessment of quality of life in children with Tracheostomies and their families in a Low to Middle Income Country (LMIC)","abstract":"Introduction The Breatheasy© Tracheostomy Program based at the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, manages children mostly from poor socio-economic backgrounds. In our resource-limited setting, it is unclear how these families cope with the demands of a tracheostomised child. We aim to assess the quality of life (QOL) of tracheostomised children and their families as the first study of its kind in a low-resource setting. Methods A descriptive, observational study was done to assess the QOL of tracheostomised children managed by the Breatheasy© Program over 10 months. Children with tracheostomies for longer than 6 months, complex syndromic children, and home ventilated children were included. The validated Paediatric Tracheotomy Health Status Instrument (PTHSI) was utilised, where a higher score, implied a better outcome. Results A total of 68 families were recruited. In 57 (85.1%) of the carers, the highest level of education achieved was primary or high school. Twenty-seven (42%) families reported having an annual household income of less than $675 US Dollars (ZAR10,000). Sixteen (24%) resided within informal housing. The mean scores for the 4 PTHSI domains were: physical symptoms 24.8/35 (70.9%), frequency/financial impact of medical visits 14.2/15 (94.7%), QOL of child 8.8/15 (58.7%), QOL of carer 62.3/85 (73.3%); the overall score was 110.2/150 (73.5%). There was no significant correlation between total PTHSI and annual household income, carer's educational status or type of housing. Children with a concomitant major medical condition had a significantly poorer total PTHSI scores (p-value 0.024). Conclusion Tracheostomy care compounds challenging socio-economic circumstances. In our experience, with adequate training, home-care nursing is not necessary. Despite difficult living conditions, the Breatheasy© Program empowers children and their families to live independently of the hospital system and appear to be thriving. The decision to perform a paediatric tracheostomy should not be influenced by the carer's education level, socioeconomic status, or on the basis of formal or informal housing. Children with major medical comorbidities represent a group that requires more support.","abstract_html":"Introduction The Breatheasy© Tracheostomy Program based at the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, manages children mostly from poor socio-economic backgrounds. In our resource-limited setting, it is unclear how these families cope with the demands of a tracheostomised child. We aim to assess the quality of life (QOL) of tracheostomised children and their families as the first study of its kind in a low-resource setting. Methods A descriptive, observational study was done to assess the QOL of tracheostomised children managed by the Breatheasy© Program over 10 months. Children with tracheostomies for longer than 6 months, complex syndromic children, and home ventilated children were included. The validated Paediatric Tracheotomy Health Status Instrument (PTHSI) was utilised, where a higher score, implied a better outcome. Results A total of 68 families were recruited. In 57 (85.1%) of the carers, the highest level of education achieved was primary or high school. Twenty-seven (42%) families reported having an annual household income of less than $675 US Dollars (ZAR10,000). Sixteen (24%) resided within informal housing. The mean scores for the 4 PTHSI domains were: physical symptoms 24.8/35 (70.9%), frequency/financial impact of medical visits 14.2/15 (94.7%), QOL of child 8.8/15 (58.7%), QOL of carer 62.3/85 (73.3%); the overall score was 110.2/150 (73.5%). There was no significant correlation between total PTHSI and annual household income, carer's educational status or type of housing. Children with a concomitant major medical condition had a significantly poorer total PTHSI scores (p-value 0.024). Conclusion Tracheostomy care compounds challenging socio-economic circumstances. In our experience, with adequate training, home-care nursing is not necessary. Despite difficult living conditions, the Breatheasy© Program empowers children and their families to live independently of the hospital system and appear to be thriving. The decision to perform a paediatric tracheostomy should not be influenced by the carer's education level, socioeconomic status, or on the basis of formal or informal housing. Children with major medical comorbidities represent a group that requires more support.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Din, Taseer Feroze"],"institution":"Division of Otorhinolaryngology","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Peer, Shazia"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021","date_published":"2021","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:22:38Z","subjects":["Pediatric","tracheostomy","quality of life","low resource"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/11427/35714","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Peer, Shazia"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Din, Taseer Feroze"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2022-02-18T05:57:29Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2022-02-18T05:57:29Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2021"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["Division of Otorhinolaryngology"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Master Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Masters","MMed"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Pediatric","tracheostomy","quality of life","low resource"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/35714"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Introduction The Breatheasy© Tracheostomy Program based at the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, manages children mostly from poor socio-economic backgrounds. In our resource-limited setting, it is unclear how these families cope with the demands of a tracheostomised child. We aim to assess the quality of life (QOL) of tracheostomised children and their families as the first study of its kind in a low-resource setting. Methods A descriptive, observational study was done to assess the QOL of tracheostomised children managed by the Breatheasy© Program over 10 months. Children with tracheostomies for longer than 6 months, complex syndromic children, and home ventilated children were included. The validated Paediatric Tracheotomy Health Status Instrument (PTHSI) was utilised, where a higher score, implied a better outcome. Results A total of 68 families were recruited. In 57 (85.1%) of the carers, the highest level of education achieved was primary or high school. Twenty-seven (42%) families reported having an annual household income of less than $675 US Dollars (ZAR10,000). Sixteen (24%) resided within informal housing. The mean scores for the 4 PTHSI domains were: physical symptoms 24.8/35 (70.9%), frequency/financial impact of medical visits 14.2/15 (94.7%), QOL of child 8.8/15 (58.7%), QOL of carer 62.3/85 (73.3%); the overall score was 110.2/150 (73.5%). There was no significant correlation between total PTHSI and annual household income, carer's educational status or type of housing. Children with a concomitant major medical condition had a significantly poorer total PTHSI scores (p-value 0.024). Conclusion Tracheostomy care compounds challenging socio-economic circumstances. In our experience, with adequate training, home-care nursing is not necessary. Despite difficult living conditions, the Breatheasy© Program empowers children and their families to live independently of the hospital system and appear to be thriving. The decision to perform a paediatric tracheostomy should not be influenced by the carer's education level, socioeconomic status, or on the basis of formal or informal housing. Children with major medical comorbidities represent a group that requires more support."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Assessment of quality of life in children with Tracheostomies and their families in a Low to Middle Income Country (LMIC)"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Peer, Shazia"],"dc:creator":["Din, Taseer Feroze"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2022-02-18T05:57:29Z"],"dc:date.available":["2022-02-18T05:57:29Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2021"],"dc:description.abstract":["Introduction The Breatheasy© Tracheostomy Program based at the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, manages children mostly from poor socio-economic backgrounds. In our resource-limited setting, it is unclear how these families cope with the demands of a tracheostomised child. We aim to assess the quality of life (QOL) of tracheostomised children and their families as the first study of its kind in a low-resource setting. Methods A descriptive, observational study was done to assess the QOL of tracheostomised children managed by the Breatheasy© Program over 10 months. Children with tracheostomies for longer than 6 months, complex syndromic children, and home ventilated children were included. The validated Paediatric Tracheotomy Health Status Instrument (PTHSI) was utilised, where a higher score, implied a better outcome. Results A total of 68 families were recruited. In 57 (85.1%) of the carers, the highest level of education achieved was primary or high school. Twenty-seven (42%) families reported having an annual household income of less than $675 US Dollars (ZAR10,000). Sixteen (24%) resided within informal housing. The mean scores for the 4 PTHSI domains were: physical symptoms 24.8/35 (70.9%), frequency/financial impact of medical visits 14.2/15 (94.7%), QOL of child 8.8/15 (58.7%), QOL of carer 62.3/85 (73.3%); the overall score was 110.2/150 (73.5%). There was no significant correlation between total PTHSI and annual household income, carer's educational status or type of housing. Children with a concomitant major medical condition had a significantly poorer total PTHSI scores (p-value 0.024). Conclusion Tracheostomy care compounds challenging socio-economic circumstances. In our experience, with adequate training, home-care nursing is not necessary. Despite difficult living conditions, the Breatheasy© Program empowers children and their families to live independently of the hospital system and appear to be thriving. The decision to perform a paediatric tracheostomy should not be influenced by the carer's education level, socioeconomic status, or on the basis of formal or informal housing. Children with major medical comorbidities represent a group that requires more support."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/35714"],"dc:publisher.department":["Division of Otorhinolaryngology"],"dc:subject":["Pediatric","tracheostomy","quality of life","low resource"],"dc:title":["The Assessment of quality of life in children with Tracheostomies and their families in a Low to Middle Income Country (LMIC)"],"dc:type":["Master Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["Masters","MMed"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:22:38Z"}