Original Research

’n Verkenning van die ervaring en belewing van siekte-episodes deur ’n aantal senior hoërskoolleerlinge in ’n swart dorpsgebied

J.H. Booyens
Curationis | Vol 5, No 2 | a398 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/curationis.v5i2.398 | © 1982 J.H. Booyens | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 27 September 1982 | Published: 27 September 1982

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J.H. Booyens, Potchefstroomse Universiteit vir CHO, South Africa

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Abstract

This study is based on an item analysis of structured essays written under the heading illness at home, submitted to the author by senior students in a Black township. In this case an analysis was done of the reaction of the students to one of the subthemes in the essays regarding the way in which an illness episode interfered with the normal routine at home. An important finding was that the most salient spontaneous reactions to this subtheme were that illness episodes led to financial problems (50% of the cases), emotional disturbances (86% of the cases) and problems regarding division of labour (58% of the cases).
Although no comparative material was utilised, the fact that such a large number of cases reported financial problems during illness episodes, may be correlated with the general socio-economic position of Blacks. There also seems to be a positive correlation between the status of the ill individual in a specific household and the number of cases reporting financial problems at home. Furthermore, it is clear that there is no simple relationship between financial problems and direct medical costs.
An important way of coping with financial problems during illness-episodes is the discontinuation of formal education by family members of the diseased. Illness episodes may therefore be seen to play a significant indirect role in the perpetuation of poverty amongst urban Blacks, thus reinforcing the incidence of types of diseases associated with lower income groups.

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