Abstract:
The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore womens experiences of caring for traumatized family members from insurgency situation in three southernmost provinces of Thailand. Phenomenological perspective was used as guided to understand womens experiences. By using purposive sampling, 12 participants were recruited for the study. The key informants were women who were heads of households and caregivers of traumatized family members from insurgency situation. Data were collected by in-depth interviews. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Content analysis technique guided by Burnard (1991) was applied for data analysis. By looking at the womens experiences of caring for traumatized family members, four main themes were emerged and presented as follows: 1) Being unanticipated; 2) Feeling of severe burden included financial burden, burden of care for traumatized family members, and emotional burden; 3) Womens responsibilities involved sharing suffer and happiness, taking pride in caring for traumatized family members, and doing everything possible for family; and 4) Dealing and adjusting to changes comprised accepting the fate, raising ones hope, crying to release, seeking courage, finding religious and social supports. The finding from this study sheds the light on womens experiences of caring for traumatized family members from insurgency situation in three southernmost provinces of Thailand. This information needs to be considered when developing ways to help these groups of women.