History of violence performed by family on people with mental illness following hospitalization

Abstract

Violence experienced by people with mental illness may result in serious psychological effect. The impact may cause relapse among them which raises the case prevalence. This study aimed to identify the description of the history of violence performed by family on people with mental illness following hospitalization. The study design was qualitative with a descriptive phenomenological approach. The result identified six themes, which included family's knowledge deficiency as the cause of violence experienced by people with mental illness, main caregiver as perpetrator of violence on people with mental illness, physical abuse as the common type of violence experienced by people with mental illness, helplessness as the impact of violence, distraction as coping mechanism, and expectation of people with mental illness to be relieved from violence. The study result suggested that all psychiatric nurses provide cognitive therapy for the victim of abuse and family psycho-education therapy for the abuser to prevent the recurring of abuse on people with mental illness.