M.A. / A child's life-threatening illness has severe implications for the family. Changes in lifestyle which result from an illness of this nature influence the child-patient's own life, as well as the lives of people who are in close contact with him, i.e. his parents and healthy siblings. Literature on the subject suggests that the healthy siblings suffer due to the illness and that their needs are not addressed during the illness. They often become the victims of emotional neglect, due to the lack of meaningful contact with their parents. Literature also suggests that parents often judge their healthy children to he handling the situation of one child's lifethreatening illness far more successfully than they actually are. Healthy siblings may also develop death anxiety due to this experience. Due to these, and various other reasons, the healthy siblings of children with life-threatening illnesses constitute a population which is at risk of developing moderate and severe personal, social and psychological problems. The aim of this study was to investigate how healthy siblings experience a child's lifethreatening illness and how this experience influences the healthy siblings. The study also aimed to determine the effect of a child's life-threatening illness on healthy siblings' levels of death anxiety. These aims were achieved by conducting interviews with healthy siblings, as well as their parents. The three families which were included in this study were contacted through a local state hospital. In all three families one child had been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. All the healthy siblings who were interviewed were between the ages of nine and 16. Both qualitative and quantitative data analyses were incorporated by this study. The qualitative data for the study was gathered by means of open-ended interviews with healthy siblings and their parents. These interviews were then analysed according to the phenomenological research method. The quantitative data for the study was gathered by means of the Death Anxiety Questionnaire for Children (Malan, 1996) which was constructed far the study. The results of the qualitative data of all the participants of the study were combined in the final analysis, to determine how healthy siblings experience a child's life-threatening illness and what effect this experience has on them. The quantitative results of the study were analysed and interpreted in association with the qualitative results. The findings of this study suggest that a child's life-threatening illness constitutes a traumatic and emotional experience for the child's healthy siblings. Various conclusions were drawn as to the effects which this experience may have on the healthy siblings. The study also determined that a child's life-threatening illness influences healthy siblings' levels of death anxiety. According to these findings hypotheses may be set for future research. The results of this study is of value to the fields of psychology, social work and medicine. In the .fields of counselling and child psychology, the results serve to improve the understanding of families, and especially , children, who are experiencing the life-threatening disease of a family member. In the fields of social work and medicine the results serve to improve the relations between professionals and families of child-patients with life-threatening illnesses.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:9241 |
| Date | 14 August 2012 |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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