In recent years, the move toward a more holistic perspective
in health care has led to social scientists investigating
psychosocial factors in chronic illness, such as the different
languages used by health professionals when talking about
nonhealth. However, there has been little inquiry into
caregivers' illness experiences of stroke and Alzheimer's disease
(AD). This study therefore explores the illness experiences of
seven caregivers whose spouses are stroke or AD patients.
A hermeneutic approach was adopted and two relatively
unstructured interviews were conducted with each caregiver.
Using Kleinman's work on illness narratives as an interpretive
framework, it was found that - except for people questioning the
authenticity of AD caregivers' experiences - similarities in
caregivers' experiences outweighed differences. All described
the extent to which their lives had been damaged by the illness
and their reparation attempts. Critique of the research is
presented and the findings' implications for treatment are suggested / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:umkn-dsp01.int.unisa.ac.za:10500/17703 |
| Date | 01 1900 |
| Creators | Scrooby, Caroline |
| Contributors | Butchart, R. A. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | 1 online resource (x, 176 leaves) |
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