Abstract
M.Cur. (Psychiatric Nursing)
In an airways community, an external factor is the fact that the men are absent from home for long periods, especially the international pilots. The result is that the wives have to take charge of the household. There is an interaction between the wives' internal and external environments. Internal factors that can influence the wives' quest for wholeness and which stern from the above-mentioned statement, are :
*The wife becomes isolated due to the fact that she has to rely on herself.
* She has more responsibility, has a variety of roles to play, and is the central person in the family.
* She experiences high stress levels and great demands are made on her, so that she has to resort to defence mechanisms such as aggression, isolation, rationalization, displacement and denial. An external factor that specifically influences the wife and family's quest for wholeness, is the limited resources that are available to them, especially in terms of her husband, friends and family because the airways community is a subculture on its own. While I was participating in an interpersonal skills course for the wives of international pilots presented at the Rand Afrikaans University, I noticed that the women showed suppressed aggression and that they used denial and rationalization as defence mechanisms. Labile emotions were also experienced by them. The fact that the husband as a help and source of support is not at home causes the wife to experience internal discomfort, and interferes with her quest for wholeness. The research question that originated from the above mentioned data was : "'What in the experiential world of wives of pilots can on the one hand cause them to be vulnerable to mental illness and thus interfere with their quest for wholeness, and on the other hand what 'can facilitate their quest for wholeness! The aim of this study is to explore and to describe the experiences of wives of pilots who undertake international flights, and to compile guidelines for enriching the mental health of couples of whom the husband is regularly absent.