Abstract:

This study sought to investigate the fear of susceptible to infectious disease experienced among the hospitalized patients in the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital. Two research questions one hypothesis were used. Do hospitalized patients in University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar have fear of susceptibility to infectious disease? What support do hospitalized patients in University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar received from family. The hypothesis states that; there is no significant relationship between fear among hospitalized patients and the support they received from family members. Literature was reviewed based on the research variables. The research instrument used in collecting data for analysis was a questionnaire administered to one hundred (100) hospitalized patients in University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar. Their responses were analyzed using frequencies, percentages and Pearson product moment correlation analysis and the following results were obtained, Results in Table 3 indicated that 68(68%) of the respondents agreed that they have received a significant support from their family members during the period of their hospitalization while 32(32%) disagreed. 24(24%) said the financial support they received from family members was too minimal while 76(76%) said it was not. 78(78%) agreed that their family members frequently visited them while 22(22%) disagreed. The above data, therefore, showed that hospitalized patients in UCTH, Calabar received both moral and financial support from family members. In line with the views expressed by the patients. It was recommended that more nurses should be employed to help avoid contacting the communicable disease. This implies that, the nurses would be able to manage two patients at a time instead of taking care of a large number of patients.

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