Niramon Jitsook. Stress, Social support and coping of families after the death of AIDS patient . Master's Degree(Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2003.
Stress, Social support and coping of families after the death of AIDS patient
Abstract:
The present study was descriptive research aiming at investigating stress, social support and
coping of families after the death of AIDS patients. The subjects were 100 family members of
deceased AIDS patients living in Pranburi District, Guiburi District, and Samroiyord Sub-district in
Prachuabkheereekhan Province. The subjects were selected by means of convenience sampling, and
data were collected based on the Demographic Characteristic Questionnaire, Stress Causing
Situations Questionnaire, Coping Questionnaire, and Social Support Questionnaire. Data were
analyzed in terms of percentage, mean, and standard deviation.
The findings revealed that the situations which caused a high level of stress to surviving
family members of deceased AIDS patients : were missing the patients, having to be responsible for
the surviving children of the patients , losing the leader of the family, and losing hopes and goals in
life once shared with the patient. The subjects used more emotion-focused stress coping than
problem-focused stress coping. The subjects received a high level of social support from their own
family members, but they received a low level of social support from healthcare providers in the
community.
Based on these findings, it is recommended that nurses and others involved with the families
of AIDS patients should realize the significance of the surviving family members of deceased AIDS
patients, especially their children. The mental well-being of the family members needs to be
promoted, and they should be taught how to appropriately deal with stress to prevent chronic and
abnormally long grieving processes. Also, surviving family members need to learn to benefit from
the existing resources available to them so as to enable them to the practice appropriate self-care,
leading to mental well-being of individuals, families, and the community at large.