Adaptive Strategy of Women`s Leprosy in Indonesia: Psychic Experience of Women with Leprosy in Living a Community Life

This study aims to explore the psychological burden of leprosy women and their adaptive strategies. Leprosy has a destructive character and is opportunistic in nature, so that it becomes a burden for women because of the defects in the body and the resulting beauty crown. The study was conducted at the Center for Public Health in Eastern Indonesia with a purposive sampling method on 17 leprosy women. The interview became the most dominant instrument, and the results were analyzed by Phenomenological Analytical Interpretation. The result: mental stress is part of everyday life; physical conditions that are far from aesthetic value; guarantee of happiness that is difficult to obtain by sufferers; it is necessary to find a method to surrender to the trials received. The final conclusion shows that the psycho-emotional suffering caused by leprosy can be reduced through efforts to surrender to the trials received, to obey God's commands in any situation and to His servants to always try and pray and remain steadfast in maintaining the role, function and duty as a woman even though constrained by leprosy that accompanies.