安寧志工覺察他人“受苦”之個人建構

A Study Examining the Personal Constructs of Terminal Patients' Sufferings by Hospice Volunteers

張利中(Li-Jung Chang) ； 呂重生(Chung-Sheng Lu) ； 周希諴(His-Hsien Chou)

《安寧療護雜誌》 12卷3期 (2007/08) Pp. 287-297

https://doi.org/10.6537/TJHPC.2007.12(3).3

摘要

知覺他人的苦難是一個很重要的社會人際知覺歷程，助人者在面對面或是近距離的人際互動中，能知覺到求助者的需求，並藉由利他行爲，提供益處給有需要者。本研究以「苦難」的角度來重新審視臨終病人所面臨的生命困境，並且預期研究的發現可以增進對於基督徒安寧志工理解病人受苦狀態之實際情形。本研究採用個人建構理論與研究方法，將「建構」界定爲「知覺世界的方式」。研究以中部地區某一所安寧病房中具有基督徒身份之三位安寧病房志工爲研究對象，旨在探討具有信仰的安寧志工如何受到其個人因素或是受到「博愛、服務」的宗教精神感召，因而加入志願服務的行列，也將探討受訪的安寧志工如何能夠看見受苦中的他人，以作爲未來在研究上與實務上的發展與提升安寧志願工作的參考。本研究發現，信仰是三位受訪者從事安寧志工服務的主要動機，受訪者在實際的服務過程中，覺察臨終病人的「受苦」情形，並探索出「身體的痛苦」、「與家人分離的煎熬」、「全人痛－死亡焦慮與不甘心」、「缺乏支持與人際背叛」、「經濟上的沉重負擔」、「性格的影響」和「不切實際的希望」等七種知覺臨終病人「受苦」的類別。然而，本研究也指出研究對象缺乏對於病人主體性的關注、對病人深刻受苦經驗與「希望」的體察，以及與病人的「共在」關係等。研究建議針對這些面向的加強和探討，將有助於提升安寧志工對於臨終關懷照護的認知與能力，而使得安寧志工的服務更具意義。

關鍵字

基督徒 ； 安寧志工 ； 受苦 ； 個人建構

並列摘要

Awareness of others' suffering is a key issue within interpersonal helping process. Potential helpers must have recognized the person in need and his/her distress so as to initiate helping behaviors. Suffering is a primary and essential concept in the domain of medical care and especially with terminally ill patients. This study introduces the concept of suffering as a frame of investigation to examine how hospice volunteers witness and perceive the suffering of terminally ill patients. Conceptualizations and methods of Personal Construct Psychology are applied in the present study. All three Christian volunteers in one hospice ward in central Taiwan were contacted and recruited to participate in this study. With the triadic elicitation technique, the interviewees gave responses based on their perceptions of the suffering of terminally ill patients they had served. It was found that motivation based on and in order to fulfill one's faith is essential for the research participants to volunteer for the services in hospice ward. Seven construct domains were identified as; ”physical pain”, ”hardship over loss and separation from family”, ”total pain-death anxiety and unfinished business”, ”lack of interpersonal support and interpersonal betrayal”, ”effects of character”, and ”unrealistic hope”. The interviewed hospice volunteers did not attribute the patients' suffering toward their mis-deeds and sins. However, there is a lack of respect and sharing of the patients' subjectivity, hope and the ”co-presence” with the terminally ill patients. It is recommended the above issues should be dealt with in hospice volunteers' in-service trainings.

並列關鍵字

Christian ； hospice volunteers ； sufferings ； personal constructs