Abstract

MALEBYE, Seipati; NTSHINGILA, Nompumelelo  and  POGGENPOEL, Marie. Experiences of family members of relatives admitted as state patients in a psychiatric hospital. S. Afr. j. psyc. [online]. 2023, vol.29, n.1, pp.1-8. ISSN 2078-6786.  https://doi.org/10.4102/sajpsychiatry.v29i0.1958.

BACKGROUND: Family members play an important role in caring for state patients during their admission to a psychiatric hospital. They receive limited support from the multidisciplinary team because they do not have a relationship that will promote the families to verbalise their thoughts, rather the interaction that the multidisciplinary team and family members share is about the admitted state patient. AIM: This article explored and described the experiences of family members who have a relative admitted as a state patient in a psychiatric hospital. Based on the findings, specific recommendations were provided to facilitate the mental health of state patients' family members in the future. SETTING: The study was conducted in participants' homes; only one interview took place in the psychiatric hospital when the family member came to meet the multidisciplinary team. METHODS: The study employed a qualitative, exploratory and contextual research design. Family members' lived experiences were explored using in-depth phenomenological interviews and later analysed. RESULTS: The findings indicated family members experienced negative feelings, a sincere desire to support their relatives and a great need to share information and knowledge about mental illness. CONCLUSION: The study indicated that state patients' family members' mental health should be focused on to improve their understanding of mental illness. CONTRIBUTION: The findings of this study call for collaboration between the family members, the police and multidisciplinary teams from the hospitals, the mental health awareness and counselling for families.

Keywords : admitted; experiences; family members; relative; state patient; qualitative.

        · text in English     · English ( pdf )