Return to normal role functioning after illness

Penney, Wayne Pearce (1975) Return to normal role functioning after illness. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

One of the underlying assumptions of Parsons' (1951) sick role concept was that, after a period of time, the sick person would return to a state of health. Further, while the person occupied this sick role, he/she was exempted from normal role and task obligations. Presumably, when the person exited from this sick role, normal role functioning was resumed. Since this formulation was advanced most research has focused on the parameters of entering the sick role. Little attention has been directed at exiting from this role. To this end, the present study was aimed at investigating the role of certain socioenvironmental, and disease specific variables upon three sets of roles: work, leisure and household. These three sets of roles were viewed as a package of the person's obligations and it was postulated that the person would reassume the package as a whole. -- A questionnaire was administered to patients in three active treatment general hospitals who fell into certain selected diagnostic and/or surgical categories. These categories covered a range of acute ailments or acute phases of chronic ailments requiring surgical intervention. This questionnaire was used to determine pre-morbid levels of functioning and obtain demographic information. A follow-up interview was conducted three weeks post-discharge and post-morbid levels of functioning assessed. -- Of the six factors studies: occupation, education, age, sex, nature of the ailment, services category; none were instrumental in effecting return to the total package of role obligations. Rather, a pattern of differential resumption of roles emerged. The key factors is determining return to functioning were salience of the role for the individual and degree of initial involvement in the role.

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