ArticleBMC geriatrics2025
Exploring the quality of life of older people in long-term care facilities in the Sub-Saharan region: a scoping review.
Article in BMC geriatrics, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Subjective Perceptions and Conceptualisations of Ageing and Disability in Ghana: An Exploratory Sequential Mixed-Methods Study.Public health challenges · 2026Article
- Associations between government-supported institutional long-term care and health outcomes among socioeconomically disadvantaged older adults in China.International journal for equity in health · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundOver the past decade, there has been a shift in the family-centered model of care for older people in Sub-Saharan African countries, driven primarily by urbanization and industrialization. As the aging population grows, there is an increasing need for long-term care. However, limited evidence exists on the quality of life of older people in long-term care facilities across the region. This scoping review aims to describe the existing evidence on the quality of life of older people living in long-term care facilities in Sub-Saharan Africa.
methodsA systematic search was conducted from 26 March 2024 to 15 July 2024 on four databases: EBSCOHOST, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and grey literature was included as an additional source of information. This study follows the methodological framework as presented by Arksey and O’Malley and incorporating Levac and colleagues’ recommendations. A total of 360 peer-reviewed articles were identified and screened using CADIMA software. Studies were included if they focused on the quality of life of older people in long-term care facilities in sub-Saharan Africa, were published in English, and involved participants aged 60 and above. Twenty-one articles met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed using data charting process through thematic analysis which involved identifying, synthesizing, and interpreting key themes across the studies to address the review objective.Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory was applied to guide the interpretation and organization of findings, focusing on five interconnected themes: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem.
resultsFindings showed underrepresentation of articles from different countries with the 21 studies, spanning five sub-Saharan African countries,and the majority being from South Africa. These studies utilized qualitative approaches such as case studies and phenomenological research. Key tools included interviews and quality of life scales. Most studies were conducted in privately funded long-term care facilities, emphasizing the influence of gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and education on quality of life. Findings indicated that multiple factors at different ecological levels (microsystem to chronosystem) affect quality of life in long-term care.
conclusionsEvidence shows a lack of structured long-term care policy in sub-Saharan Africa. Given the increasing demand for long-term care, there is an urgent need for policies that address factors affecting quality of life and ensure better care for older people in these facilities. A protocol for the scoping review was preregistered on the Open Science Framework Registry on 9th September 2023 ( https://osf.io/xm8r5/ ).
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.