Constituting Community: Creating a Place for Oneself

Abstract

This article, a qualitative research project based on grounded theory, illustrates processes used by a group of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia to create a self-authored community. These individuals were long-term residents (continuous residence for more than 1 year) of a large psychiatric hospital. The results illustrate the challenges people face in forming relationships. The process of venturing forth and connecting begins cautiously, with few expectations. It is closely related to facilitative environments, such as public places and place of residence, and to routines, daily activities, and facilitative objects, such as coffee and cigarettes. These environments have few interactive demands and feature the presence of other people. The process is also related to past experience and current relationships, both real and virtual. We found some disparity from what is reported in the literature concerning the connection between relationships and staying out of hospital. The participants clearly visualized relationships as connecting them to the wider community and providing hope, and not necessarily linked to staying out of hospital. This disparity may be linked to these individuals having short community tenure. It may also be related to the small sample size. We argue that venturing forth and connecting is a useful concept when considering how individuals with long hospitalizations connect to a community. We consider that the actions of people recently discharged from long-term care should be seen as relatively normal and part of the struggle we all face in living in the world together.