Sengendo J, Nambi J
Faculty of Social Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala.
Health Transit Rev. 1997;7 Suppl:105-24.
This paper examines the psychological effect of orphanhood in a case study of 193 children in Rakai district of Uganda. Studies on orphaned children have not examined the psychological impact. Adopting parents and schools have not provided the emotional support these children often need. Most adopting parents lack information on the problem and are therefore unable to offer emotional support; and school teachers do not know how to identify psychological and social problems and consequently fail to offer individual and group attention. The concept of the locus of control is used to show the relationship between the environment and individuals' assessment of their ability to deal with it and to adjust behaviour. Most orphans risk powerful cumulative and often negative effects as a result of parents' death, thus becoming vulnerable and predisposed to physical and psychological risks. The children were capable of distinguishing between their quality of life when their parents were alive and well, when they became sick, and when they eventually died. Most children lost hope when it became clear that their parents were sick, they also felt sad and helpless. When they were adopted, many of them felt angry and depressed. Children living with widowed fathers and those living on their own were significantly more depressed. These children were also more externally oriented than those who lived with their widowed mothers. Teachers need to be retrained in diagnosing psycho-social problems and given skills to deal with them. Short courses should be organized for guardians and community development workers in problem identification and counselling.
本文通过对乌干达拉凯区193名儿童的案例研究，考察了孤儿身份带来的心理影响。对孤儿的研究尚未考察其心理影响。收养父母和学校并未提供这些孩子经常需要的情感支持。大多数收养父母缺乏有关该问题的信息，因此无法提供情感支持；而且学校教师不知道如何识别心理和社会问题，因而未能给予个别和集体关注。控制点的概念被用来表明环境与个体对自身应对环境及调整行为能力的评估之间的关系。由于父母的死亡，大多数孤儿面临强大的累积且往往是负面的影响，从而变得脆弱，易遭受身体和心理风险。孩子们能够区分父母健在且健康时、生病时以及最终去世时他们的生活质量。当很明显父母生病时，大多数孩子失去了希望，他们也感到悲伤和无助。当他们被收养时，他们中的许多人感到愤怒和沮丧。与丧偶父亲生活在一起的孩子以及独自生活的孩子明显更抑郁。这些孩子也比与丧偶母亲生活在一起的孩子更外向。教师需要接受重新培训以诊断心理社会问题并掌握处理这些问题的技能。应为监护人及社区发展工作者组织关于问题识别和咨询的短期课程。
