Abstract
Previously, grandparents have raised their grandchildren while their daughters and
sons went back to school and others went to urban areas to seek employment, even
though they were not skilled. This was done in order to supplement the family
income. However, about three decades ago, South Africa saw a tremendous change
in the roles of grandparents, to mostly grandmothers becoming the primary carers
after the death of their children from various conditions.
Raising grandchildren, irrespective of their age, is challenging. The new role has led
to changes in the physical, psychological, social and spiritual dimensions of the
grandmothers, and has influenced their mental health. Communication, despite the
generation gap, forms an integral part of dynamic and continuous interaction,
resulting in harmony within the family. There is a need for grandmothers to improve
their health, particularly their mental health, as they embark on the journey of raising
their grandchildren. This need can be met by developing effective models to be
implemented by advanced psychiatric nurses. Two research questions arose from
this:
• What are the experiences of grandmothers of raising orphaned adolescent
grandsons?
• What can be done to assist these grandmothers?
The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of grandmothers raising
orphaned adolescent grandsons, to develop a model and describe guidelines as a
framework of reference for advanced psychiatric nurses to facilitate the mental health
of the grandmothers raising their orphaned adolescent grandsons. This would be
achieved by ensuring that the following identified objectives are met:
• to explore and describe grandmothers’ experiences of raising their orphaned
adolescent grandsons as a field study;...
D.Cur. (Psychiatric Nursing)