The Experience of Family Members Caring for a Relative Diagnosed with Schizophrenia: The Case of Amanuel Hospital
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Date
2013-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This study examined the experiences of family members caring for a relative diagnosed with
schizophrenia in Ethiopia. Previous studies indicated that family members providing care for
their loved one with schizophrenia experienced many challenges in the course of care-giving.
Though family members experience both enrichments and challenges in caring for their loved
one with mental illness little attention is paid to the comprehensive experiences of family
members. This study addressed the aforementioned issue and contributed to limited studies
on psychiatric conditions in Ethiopia where there are limited services, community service
organizations, or legal frame-works on mental illness. The study used a qualitative case study
approach. In-depth interviews were conducted with eight purposely selected participants.
Content analysis was used to analyze the data and identify themes. The study indicated a
variety of impacts of caregiving such as psycho-social and economic as well as enrichments
such as progress on the illness, teaching their experiences, deriving hope from the situation,
and satisfaction from sharing experiences with others. The study also indicated that
encouraging independence, fulfilling needs, ignorance for a while (no response on the
situation immediately), communication and discussion with family as major ways of
managing the caregiving responsibility. Understanding caregivers’ experiences may be useful
in prompting governments and service providers to invest in education and support programs
aimed at helping caregivers to cope with this stress and deal with the problem behaviours
associated with the illness
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Keywords
Schizophrenia; Ethiopia; caregiving; coping