Selected aspects of the living situation of persons suffering from syphilis - Poznan study.

In the last years, a considerable increase in syphilis incidence was observed in Poland. This is a condition with serious health and psychosocial consequences. The research demonstrates that one of the events which significantly modify the course of human life is the somatic disease experience; hence, it was decided to examine selected aspects of the living situation of persons suffering from syphilis, which refer to the social position held by these persons. Materials for the research were collected based on the anonymous authors' survey composed of 16 questions. The research lasted for two years and covered a group of 42 syphilitic patients (35 males and 7 females). The mean age of male patients was 35.7 and of female patients 37.0 years. Among the participants, 8 persons had been subjected to treatment for a few years, 11 for about a year, and 22 persons had recently become ill. Patients assessed the attitude toward themselves mostly as invariable, followed by unstable; 45.2% of subjects considered their position in the family as average and 42.9% as high; 28.6% of patients assessed their occupational position as average and the same number admitted to be currently out of work. Most frequently, unemployed were patients who had been affected by the disease for several years (62.5%), whereas their social position was assessed either as high (47.6%) or average (45.2%). Irrespective of the duration of the disease, patients (during hospitalization) usually met a lot of people. It has been proven that most of the syphilitic patients do not have negative attitude toward themselves and do not assess their social position as inferior, regardless of the duration of the disease. Such a picture of the living situation may be a manifestation of the compensation for the negative mental state, activation of other defense mechanisms or proper strategy of coping with the stressor. The generally optimistic image of the studied group of syphilitic patients may constitute a warning against an increased risk from the infected persons.