Search for a cure: narratives of Thai family caregivers living with a person with AIDS

Kittikorn Nilmanat and Annette Street

Social Science & Medicine, 2004, vol. 59, issue 5, 1003-1010

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: Thailand; AIDS; Family; Traditional/folk; medicine; Supernatural; healing; rites; Thai; religious; performances (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004
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