Gaano Ka(h)alaga?: Communicating Social Support to Watchers who Provide Care for the Mental Patient

Abstract
This thesis explores the role of watchers in providing support to their mental patients as influenced by the external support they themselves received. The family is perceived as the main provider of social support to mental patients as they are responsible for taking care of them. However, mental illness confers a stigma, which makes recovery more difficult for the patients and their family. Filipino families seek strength from their interpersonal relationships as evident in their practices of pakikisama, pagdadamayan, and pakikipagkapwa. To explore the nature of social support received by the watchers and how it influences the care that they provide for their mental patients, interviews and observation were done inside the Acute Crisis Intervention Section (ACIS) of the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH). Primary data were collected from interviews with watchers, hospital staffs, and visitors. Watchers also need affection, inclusion, and control. These are provided by their external networks (e.g., relatives, friends, hospital staffs) through various forms of supports, which make them more capable of providing care to their mental patients.

Bungcayao, M. J. & Maximo, R. A. (2010). Gaano ka(h)alaga?: Communicating social support to watchers who provide care for the mental patient, Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis, University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication.

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