Abstract
Family has a central role at the time of crisis. When an individual suffers with terminal illness like Cancer it definitely becomes more supportive. But in a crisisful situation like such, the family requires supportive interventions. This article presents a case study of primary caretaker of a cancer patient who undergoes severe psycho social challenges. Aim of this paper is to highlight the need and effectiveness of family intervention by Medical Social Worker through a case study. Psycho education to family, team work, utilizing the resources has shown remarkable results in reducing the psycho social problems of caretaker. Family environment plays a very significant role in psycho social support of its members. Positive environment and family socialization experiences enhances one’s ability to cope with stress and anxiety. Hence family interventions for caretakers of persons living with cancer can support both care givers and patients. Multidisciplinary approach in cancer care is the need of the hour. It can build a proper support mechanism for the person suffering from cancer and his family. The most important implication of the current study is the unveiling of the need for Medical Social Workers in oncology settings and the interventions they can deliver. A professionally trained medical Social Worker, equipped with psycho social skills to work with caretakers, patients and their families can be a effective oncology Social Worker
Highlights
In India family is considered as a primary unit
Medical Social Worker has to use this strong family cohesiveness to implement the family therapy and make the family understand how they as a whole can be engaged in ensuring the Quality of Life of both person with Cancer and the caretaker
A case study research design is used in this paper to present the experience of family caretaker and the outcome of family intervention given by Medical Social Worker
Summary
In India family is considered as a primary unit. Most terminally ill patients are cared in their own homes or in the hospitals by family and friends. Friends and acquaintances can provide direct material support in the form of physical resources ( e.g., lending money, taking care of children.) second, members of ones social network can provide informational support by suggesting alternative actions that may help to solve the stress producing problem. These types of support have found to be important in helping an individual to cope with the demands of serious illness (Wortman and Schetter (1987)) It is evident from the reviewed literature that there is ample scope for psycho social interventions for caretakers of cancer patients. Need of family interventions for both patient and caregiver were pointed by Padmaja et al (2016) They suggested to include informational and emotional support to help both patients and their caretakers to accept the situation and live in reality. Since Cancer is a family illness, working with families in an effective way is the need of the hour
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