Search for a cure: narratives of Thai family caregivers living with a person with AIDS.
Facing an incurable prognosis Thai families search for a cure for AIDS using all possible means available to them. This paper reports a longitudinal narrative case study of eight family caregivers caring for a relative with AIDS in rural Southern Thailand. The paper demonstrates how the caregivers living with a person with AIDS made sense of illness episodes, and how they chose and evaluated particular treatments and care. Caregivers moved between modern medicine, traditional/folk medicine, supernatural healing rites, religious performances, and home remedies in their search for a cure. The findings indicate that a more holistic and palliative approach is needed toward AIDS care.
Nilmanat
Kittikorn
K
Department of Medical Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Prince of Songkla University, Had Yai Songkhla 90112, Thailand. nkittiko@ratree.psu.ac.th
Street
Annette
A
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000628:therapy*; D017028:Caregivers; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D008519:Medicine, Traditional; D033262:Narration; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D013785:Thailand