TABLE 1.

Characteristics of reviewed studies included in the meta-synthesis.

Author	Country	Study title/topic	Data collection method	Sample size	Data analysis	Design
Banyini (2012) Study 1	South Africa	Experiences of family members caring for a long-term mentally ill patient at Letaba, Limpopo Province	In-depth interviews, direct observations and field notes	4 members in 1 family	Open coding	Qualitative, exploratory, descriptive
Moahi (2007) Study 2	Botswana	Experiences of family members living with a family member suffering from chronic schizophrenia in Lobatse	In-depth individual interviews, naive sketches and observational notes	12	Open coding	Qualitative, exploratory, descriptive, contextual
Ngqoboka (1998) Study 3	South Africa	The family’s experiences of having a mentally ill family member	In-depth semi-structured interviews, field notes and observational notes	5	Open coding	Qualitative, exploratory, descriptive, contextual
Zwane (2012) Study 4	Swaziland	Family caregivers’ lived experiences of violence at the hands of their mentally ill relatives in Swaziland	In-depth semi-structured phenomenological interviews and field notes	6	Open coding	Qualitative, exploratory, descriptive, contextual
Mphelane (2006) Study 5	South Africa	The role played by the families in support of their mentally ill relative in a rural community in Limpopo Province	In-depth semi-structured phenomenological interviews and field notes	8	Open coding	Qualitative, descriptive, contextual, exploratory
Shifiona (2014) Study 6	Namibia	Facilitating the mental health of individuals living with chronic mental illness in the North West Health Directorate – Northern Namibia: a community involvement approach	In-depth phenomenological interviews, focus group discussions and field notes	4 case studies making 8 family members	Tesch’s open coding	Qualitative, descriptive, contextual and theory generative research design
Ambikile and Outwater (2012) Study 7	Tanzania	Challenges of caring for children with mental disorders: Experiences and views of caregivers attending the outpatient clinic at Muhimbili National Hospital, Dar-es-salam, Tanzania	In-depth interviews, focus group discussion and field notes	8	Content analysis	Qualitative, descriptive
Monyaluoe et al. (2014) Study 8	RSA	Experiences of families with a mentally ill family member	In-depth interviews	14	Open coding	Exploratory, descriptive, contextual, qualitative
Seloilwe (2006) Study 9	Botswana	Experiences and demands of families with mentally ill people at home in Botswana	In-depth interviews, focus group discussion and field observations	30	Open coding and axial coding	Exploratory, descriptive, contextual, qualitative
Wankiiri, Drake and Meyer (2013) Study 10	Kenya	The lived experience of families with a mentally ill family member	Interviews	7		Qualitative, descriptive, phenomenological

Source: Ntsayagae, E.I., 2017, ‘A psycho-educational programme for caregivers of mentally ill persons to facilitate their mental health’, pp. 82–87, Thesis: D Cur Psychiatric Nursing, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg