Family cancer caregiving in urban Africa: interrogating the Kenyan model

Abstract

This article interrogates the complexities of the family cancer caregiver role in an urban (Nairobi) context within the framework of the model of palliative care in sub-Saharan Africa. Individual interviews and focus groups were utilized to explore the phenomenon of family cancer caregiving. Data were analysed from an interpretative phenomenological approach. Emergent themes demonstrate the ambiguities inherent in the cultural context of cosmopolitan Nairobi where, in addition to their traditional designated roles, women caregivers simultaneously took on non-traditional roles including single-parenting and full-time professions. Findings point to the need for a more nuanced understanding of the complexities of family cancer caregiving, a process which inevitably entails interrogating assumptions about the ‘African’ and, more specifically, the ‘Kenyan’ model of caring.