Abstract
Background: The way mothers in the Bedouin communities cope with the stress of caring for a child with schizophrenia merits investigation. Aim: This study examined the relationships between Bedouin mothers' appraisal of their child's schizophrenia, their expressed emotions and their strategies for coping with the illness. Method: Sixty Bedouin mothers of children with schizophrenia completed questionnaires regarding demographic variables, incident appraisal, measure of expressed emotion, and their coping strategies. Results: Illness appraised as a loss correlated positively and significantly with high levels of expressed emotions, but illness appraised as a challenge did not. Expressed emotions correlated negatively and significantly with use of problemfocused coping strategies, but not with emotion-focused coping strategies, and illness appraised as a challenge correlated significantly and positively with emotion-focused coping strategies. Conclusion: The study provides preliminary evidence regarding the relationship between Bedouin mothers' appraisal of their child's schizophrenia, their expressed emotions and their choice of coping strategies.
Highlights
A Severe mental disorder such as the schizophrenia of a child in the family is a state of chronic stress on all family members
The child's caregiver, in particular, may feel a great deal of distress due to the many roles involved in caring for the child, since schizophrenia is characterized by many ups and downs, times of deterioration and remissions, which are not always predictable [2]
To date, limited research has been conducted regarding the coping strategies of family members of people suffering from mental illness [3] and even less research has been conducted among populations of a non-Western culture, such as the Bedouin community in Israel
Summary
A Severe mental disorder such as the schizophrenia of a child in the family is a state of chronic stress on all family members. The Bedouin community in Israel has unique characteristics This is a traditional tribal, patriarchal society, with norms such as having a large number of children, marriages between blood relatives, living among clans of the extended family, and polygamous marriages. This community is characterized by a low socioeconomic background, since half of the population is living in recognized settlements, while the other half lives in scattered dwellings without even basic living conditions [4]. The way mothers in the Bedouin communities cope with the stress of caring for a child with schizophrenia merits investigation
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