Gestion des angoisses et qualité de vie du patient du service de gériatrie de l’Hôpital Central de Yaoundé.

Abstract

We conducted qualitative research focused on an empirical-inductive approach that observed a lack of holistic and multidisciplinary care in geriatric department of the Central Hospital of Yaoundé. This deficit gave rise to several factors as physical care, control of environmental stressors, caregiver/patient relationship, and resilience skills of patient, that contribute to the management of anxiety disorders. Based on these observations, we developed a general hypothesis that the specific factors related to the overall organization of care for managing anxiety issues in patients in the geriatric department of Yaoundé central hospital account for their quality of life. This general hypothesis led to specific hypotheses which enabled us to build our methodology by selecting a sample of four participants from the population accessible, through reasoned choice sampling. On these participants, we passed the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI) and the semi-structured interview. The results were transcribed by us, analysed, and interpreted through content analysis on a case-by-case concerning the GAI, and cross-sectional basis concerning the results of semi-structured interview. The results were discussed using our theories and observations from the works of other authors. In the end, it turned out that anxiety disorders, which are not necessarily of the order of emergency, nevertheless remain prevalent in the psyche of patients in the geriatric department. The specificities of the management of these disorders have been observed through physical care, which has helped to reduce physical suffering and promote overall well-being; by controlling environmental stressors that may threaten the patient's homeostasis; by the caregiver/patient relationship that has helped to create with the patient, the feeling of trust on which he has drawn the necessary energies to cope with his anxiety; and finally by the resilience capacities shown by our subjects through the hope of a possible cure, faith in God and the support of the family environment. This research allowed us not only to explore a part of the functional dynamics that operate in the psyche of some patients in hospitalization, but also to establish that the specificities of anxiety care of geriatric patients at the Yaoundé Central Hospital affect their quality of life. This clearly shows that, in the absence of specific professional qualifications, you can obtain convincing results in the exercise of your profession, just with faith, empathy and will to serve.