Abstract
M.A.
When a person is diagnosed with a chronic illness, the family as a whole is affected.
The family members as caregivers to the patient become the clients. During the
course of their care-giving, family members encounter various situations that require
them to give ethical and value-ridden decisions that are related to the care and
wellbeing of their patients. Many of the issues and dilemmas facing family members
as caregivers place them in a double-bind situation. The decision to act or not to act is
emotionally painful and guilt-provoking. These impacts on the family members
warrant that they be assisted by a social worker, to adjust to a new situation as
caregivers and also to preserve the normal family functioning system.
The goal of this study is to investigate the emotional and social impact chronic illness
has on the patient's family, with the purpose of formulating recommendations for the
improvement of current family interventions as part of chronically ill patients
rehabilitation programme. The study was conducted at Emseni Chronic Care center,
which is a hospital for the chronically ill patients in Hillbrow. There are about 240
patients of which more than 60% are dislocated from their families. Purposive
sampling was used in this study and 26 patient's families were interviewed.
The qualitative approach is adopted in this study. The qualitative approach has
advantages that it is a highly effective means of obtaining the information required
for further understanding and exploration of a topic, Cresswell (1994). A qualitative
interview was used with one main question, to gather data for the study. The data was
also analyzed qualitatively and conclusions are drawn from the results. The study
presents the guidelines as recommendations to be considered when working with
families of chronically ill patients.
The researcher is of the opinion that if practiced properly, the guidelines can be a
valuable asset as a tool for social workers working with the family members as part of
rehabilitation programme for the chronically ill patients.
Dr. W. Roestenburg