Abstract
M.Cur.
We live in a society where the use of substances such as alcohol and cigarettes are
socially accepted. These substances are used both by parents and teenagers. The teenagers
use more of the so-called 'street drugs', for example cocaine, heroin and Ecstacy.
It has been proven that the use of such substances affects the individual physically,
emotionally, mentally and socially. To explore more on the social aspect of the teenager,
I studied the effects of teenage drug abuse on parents. The goal of this study is to:
explore and describe the experience of parents with drug-addicted teenagers.
describe guidelines for advanced psychiatric nurses to assist parents in mobilising
their resources to facilitate the promotion, maintenance and restoration of their
mental health as an integral part of health.
This study was undertaken within the framework of the Nursing for the Whole Person
Theory (Oral Roberts University, Anna Vaughn School of Nursing, 1990:136-142; Rand
Afrikaans University, Department of Nursing Science, 1992:7-9), which functions in an
integrated biopsychosocial manner (to achieve his quest for wholeness a person interacts
with his internal and external environments holistically. The parameters of nursing and
beliefs about man, health, illness and nursing are also described.
A functional reasoning approach is followed, based on the model for nursing research
developed by Botes (1991:19). A phenomenological approach to nursing research was
utilised. In-depth semistructured interviews were conducted with parents of drug addicted
teenagers and field notes were taken with the permission of the institution to which
teenagers were admitted.
Steps were taken throughout the research to ensure trustworthiness. Data were analysed
following methods suggested by Tesch (in Creswell, 1994:155) and the services of an
independent coder were obtained.
After analysis of data, follow-up interviews were conducted with two of the parents
included in the sample. A literature control was undertaken to validate data and to
compare findings with those of other research studies.
The results of this study indicate that parents suffer emotional disturbances, financial
losses, social discrimination and that they use destructive defence mechanisms. Despite
this, the parents still display a feeling of hope.
Conclusions were drawn and recommendations were made concerning nursing practice,
nursing education and nursing research and guidelines were given for advanced
psychiatric nurses to assist parents in mobilising their resources to facilitate the
promotion, maintenance and restoration of their mental health as an integral part of
health.