Good Essay About Patient AND Family Background

Interviewee’s experience as a patient

Illness can have a devastating effect on a patient in regards to the financial, social, spiritual and emotional sphere (Toombs, 2013). It is a complex phenomenon which can be described as a battlefield for patients since they are fighting for their dear life. This can be an overwhelming experience not only for the patient, but also for the family members, caregivers and to some extend religious leaders. As such, this experience can affect how patients live a normal life during and after treatment since they have to seek medical attention, be away from work, family and adapt a new lifestyle to avoid the reoccurrence of the illness in the future (Toombs, 2013). Additionally, during treatment, a patient may seek answers on the origin of the disease, factors which contribute to the illness and what needs to change in order to live a healthy life which is meaningful not only to the patient but also to other human beings (O'brien, 2013). Notably, during the illness and recovery period, a patient may feel isolated, weak, vulnerable, and sinful, additionally, the patient may perceive the universe and the creator have not treated him/her fairly (O'brien, 2013). However, patient can overcome this turmoil by getting support and hope from their family, spiritual members, health practitioners; access to satisfactory, quality and safe treatment; assessing the source of the illness; finding their purpose/goal in life and what role they can play to make the universe a better place for other human beings (Toombs, 2013). Furthermore, spiritual nourishment plays a greater role in alleviating patient’s perspective on the illness and provides a path for proper healing.

I had the pleasure of interview Mrs. G., who is a family friend. She was recently diagnosed and received holistic care for breast cancer. Mrs. G is 50 years of age from the Hispanic community. She is married with three children; two girls and one boy. However, the two girls are married and live with their spouses within the same locality with Mrs. G, but the boy, who is the last born of the family, is still schooling and lives with her and her husband. As such, they live in a secular family, but extend family members do visit frequently for meals and other family functions. According to Mrs. G. after recovering from breast cancer, she has resolved to dedicate her life to her family and ensure that they live purposeful and a comfortable life.

Interview questions and responses

• In life what do you consider as your source of strength and hope in life?
• Do you believe illness and suffering are forms of punishment from God?
• In what way did the illness affect the relation with your family?
• What role did the health practitioners and spiritual leaders play in the healing process?
• How has faith helped in your healing process?
According to the culture and traditions of Mrs. G, it is believed that illnesses and suffering are forms of punishment from God. However, Mrs. G. having lived a spiritual and pure life believes that the breast cancer was just a test of her trust and loyalty to God. She believes that just as Job in the bible who was put to suffering as a test of his trust and loyalty to God, she also underwent a test from God through the cancer battle.
The illness has strengthened her bond with her family. The daughters visit often to check up on her and assist in the house chores as opposed to before where they would visit once in a while. Her relationship with the husband too has strengthened; the husband spends most of his time around her and takes care of her. She believes the breast cancer was a blessing in disguise to her family since it managed to bring the family together since they had quality time in the hospital and at home to pray, meditate, share life experience and help one another with advice, chores and finances (O'brien, 2013).
According to Mrs. G, although she questioned God concerning her state of health, she is a strong believer of God. She believes it is her faith and encouragement from her family, religious member and caregivers that helped her overcome the pain and negative assumptions associated with cancer (Fayers & Machin, 2013). She trusts that God answered her prayers by healing her and bringing her family closer. Being a believer and trusting in God’s will including the bible scriptures read to her, gave her determination to win the biggest battle of her life (O'brien, 2013).

Analysis

The interview was a success since Mrs. G managed to answer all the questions without much difficulties. She volunteered the information willingly without having adverse concerns about the interview. As such, she was able to understand the importance of the exercise and gave depth explanations of her experience during the healing process. She was also willing to clarify issues where I was not able to comprehend. Therefore, everything went according to the plans I had made prior to the interview. However, there was little communication barriers since Mrs. G has a partial hearing problem which, occasionally, interfered with the interview process since I had to repeat questions often. Additionally, she is not well conversant with the hospital settings and she could not different between a nurse and a physician. Hence, I had to ask for physical elaborations to have a clear understanding of her responses. Thus, for future assignment on the interview, I will include drawings and pictures of important features of the interview subject to help interviewees with healthcare literacy difficulties understand and participate fully in the interview without having to go an extra mile with elaborations. This will essentially help with the communications and enhance collaborations.
Illness and stress have the potential of disturbing patient’s peace, distorting normal routine and relationships (Fayers & Machin, 2013). This raises the concerns of the patients in regards to their relationship with God. This can be seen where Mrs. G questioned God’s intentions on her illness and what kind of test she was going through (O'brien, 2013). However, the cancer battle helped her identify her source of strength and the role faith play in healing.
Conclusively, patients go through a great turmoil when they are diagnosed with a certain illness. This can have immense problems to patients if they don’t get adequate support from the family and the church. Thus, health practitioners ought to create a healing environment which ensures spiritual growth.

Reference

Fayers, P., & Machin, D. (2013). Quality of life: the assessment, analysis and interpretation of patient-reported outcomes. John Wiley & Sons.
O'brien, M. E. (2013). Spirituality in nursing: Standing on holy ground. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Pfeiffer, J. B. (2014). Creating a Healing Environment: Strategies Christian Nurses Use (Doctoral dissertation, LOMA LINDA UNIVERSITY).
Toombs, S. K. (2013). The meaning of illness: A phenomenological account of the different perspectives of physician and patient (Vol. 42). Springer Science & Business Media.