Experiences Of Psychiatric Patients Research Articles

The experiences of psychiatric patients, their caregiversand companions in upholding patient dignity during hospitalization: A qualitative study.

The quality of care and patient satisfaction is closely linked with dignity, which is a crucial component of therapy and care. However, there is very little study on dignity in the context of mental health care. Planning for ongoing patient care might benefit from an understanding of the notion of dignity by exploring the experiences of patients, caregiversand companions of patients who have a history of hospitalization in mental health institutions. To retain patients'dignity while they were being treated in mental wards, this study sought to understand the experiences of patients, caregiversand companions of patients. This investigation was qualitative. Semistructured interviews and focus groups were utilized to collect the data. The purposeful sampling method was employed for participant recruitment, which continued until data saturation. Two focus group discussions and 27 interviews were conducted. Participants included 8 patients, 2 patients'family members (companions), 3 psychologists, 4 nursesand 11 psychiatrists. Two focus group discussions were held with seven family members or companions of patients. Thematic analysis was used for data analysis. The primary theme that emerged was the infringement of patients'dignity, through negative guardianship, dehumanizationand violations of their rights. Subthemes included dehumanization, worthlessness and namelessness, patient rights violationsand stripping patients of authority. Our results suggest that, regardless of the severity of the illness, the nature of psychiatric illness significantly compromises patients'dignity. Mental health practitioners, due to their sense of guardianship, may unintentionally treat patients with mental health disorders, thus compromising the patient's dignity. The research team's experiences as a psychiatrist, doctorand nurse informed the study's objectives. Nurses and psychiatrists who work in the healthcare industry designed and conducted the study. The primary authors, who are healthcare providers, collected and analysed the required data. Furthermore, the entire study team contributed to the writing of the manuscript. Study participants were involved in the data collection and analysis.

Psychiatric patients' experience in receiving services provided by non-specialist community nurses, southern Thailand.

Psychiatric problems have been a growing and significant public health challenge. Community-based psychiatric services have been shown to contribute to the improvement of health and social-related outcomes, but with limited specialists in this field. Consequently, Thailand has integrated these services into the primary care system delivered by community nurses working in primary care units (PCUs). To describe the experiences of psychiatric patients in receiving services provided by non-specialist community nurses. A phenomenological approach was used. Eleven psychiatric patients with 10 major depressive disorders and 1 with schizophrenia were interviewed. The results were evaluated using thematic content analysis. The results revealed two main themes as barriers and facilitators experienced in receiving services from community nurses. Community-based services should be concerned about developing psychiatric nursing competency for community nurses to extend basic services to patients in communities and to assist family members.

Lived experiences of psychiatric patients with mood disorders who attended group therapy facilitated by professional psychiatric nurses.

BackgroundAccording to the World Health Organization (WHO), up to 25% of people worldwide will develop mental health disorders during their lifetime. Patients admitted to acute inpatient units for mood disorders experience emotional distress. Group therapy has the potential to foster the therapeutic change through specific therapeutic mechanisms. Psychiatric nurses working in inpatient units are in a unique position to offer group therapy.ObjectivesExplore and describe stabilised acute psychiatric patients with mood disorders’ lived experiences of group therapy facilitated by psychiatric nurses. Make specific recommendations for psychiatric nurses to facilitate constructive group therapy for stabilised acute psychiatric patients with mood disorders in an inpatient unit.MethodA qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual design was used in the study. A purposive sample of all patients with mood disorders older than 18 years admitted to inpatient units who participated in group therapy was made. Data were collected through conducting phenomenological interviews, observation and field notes. Interviews focussed on the following open question: ‘How did you experience group therapy facilitated by the psychiatric nurses?’ An independent coder analysed the data by using thematic coding. Measures to ensure trustworthiness were applied. The following four ethical principles were adhered to: autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence and justice.ResultsThree themes emerged from this study. Theme 1 entailed the psychological experiences of patients attending group therapy. Theme 2 highlighted the interpersonal experiences of patients. Theme 3 evolved around patients’ experiences outside group therapy. Patients initially experienced attending group therapy as anxiety provoking. However, negative psychological experiences soon transformed into positive psychological experiences.ConclusionThe findings of this study were used to make specific recommendations to facilitate constructive group therapy for patients with mood disorders.

Exploring the Strengths of Patients With Psychiatric Disorders: A Qualitative Study.

Professional nurses typically pay significantly more attention to the weaknesses rather than strengths of their psychiatric patients. Thus, new approaches to care are needed to discover the strengths of these patients and to provide effective encouragement during the caring process. However, little is currently known regarding the strengths that psychiatric patients possess during their illness and healing. The current study aimed to explore the self-perceptions and experiences of psychiatric patients regarding their strengths. Psychiatric patients were recruited through purposive sampling in Isfahan, Iran, from July to December 2012. Variables such as age, gender, and diagnosis were used to vet potential participants to ensure adequate sample diversity. All of the qualified individuals were informed verbally and in writing regarding the information that they would be asked to provide during the interview process, and the researchers obtained written and oral informed consent from each before enrolment. Twenty-one semistructured, qualitative interviews were conducted, and content analysis was performed to identify the themes. Four major themes emerged from the interviews, including (a) life with spiritual factors, (b) responsibility, (c) love of learning, and (d) sources of support. A repertoire of strengths was identified among the participants. Furthermore, all of the participants voiced the opinion that healthcare providers rarely focused on their strengths. Therefore, mental health professionals, particularly nurses, should pay closer attention to the strengths of their psychiatric patients to use these strengths in advancing their care.

Case Reports of Two Japanese Female Patients’ Reintegration into Society: Discussing the Interactions between a Patient’s Personality and Group Mentality

Based on the experiences of psychiatric patients who were in the process of rehabilitation after a significant period of rest and recuperation, the author aimed at analyzing the phenomena that facilitate as well as hinder patient maladjustment, in order to identify ways for clinical psychiatry to support patients’ rehabilitation processes. Two female patients with pathological personality traits who were in the process of rehabilitation were chosen. One attended a community center that offers employment for people with mental disorders, followed by a vocational rehabilitation center for the unemployed; the other returned to an ordinary job for which she was qualified. The author first investigated the interactions between their personalities and the group mentalities in their workplaces, and then analyzed these interactions using psychodynamic theories. The dynamic interactions between these patients’ personality pathologies and the group mentalities of the workplaces they chose for their rehabilitation seemed to play a crucial role in determining whether they experienced maladjustment or not. Various phenomena experienced by an individual in a community setting should not be ascribed solely to either the person’s personality or the community group mentality, but rather to the interaction between the two. Community centers for people with mental disorders must provide support that facilitates the accomplishment of the original purposes of the group, but also helps each group member improve their self-esteem. At the end of this article, the author argues that the narcissistic need for approval cannot be dismissed simply as pathological, but should be seen as a ubiquitous phenomenon in the contemporary Japanese ethos.

Pathways through psychiatric care: the experience of psychiatric patients

The aim of this project was to identify the pathway through psychiatric care beyond the point of first admission. This was carried out from the point of view of users, considering the pathway as a set of subjective experiences. Fifty interviews were conducted with people undergoing psychiatric care in a range of service settings, using a semi-structured interview schedule. Although the research was initially conceptualised in terms of pathways, the routes followed by patients proved to be too diffuse to be charted. Some patient careers were both prolonged and erratic. Patients do not follow a definite pathway; rather, they move through a set of complex stages which are often unclear. If respondents lack a subjective sense of a pathway, they feel, at least in part, that it is because they do not know what is happening.

Subjective Evaluations of Research Participation by Persons With Mental Illness

The present study focuses on the subjective experience of psychiatric patients who participate in psychobiological research, based on patients' self-reported evaluations of the experience. We studied 313 persons with mental illness admitted to an inpatient research unit. Each participant was administered the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire, a structured self-report questionnaire designed to assess satisfaction with research participation and clinical care. Individuals who completed the research protocol were significantly more satisfied globally and more likely to express that treatment had been effective. Factors contributing to willingness to participate in future research included favorable perceptions of: (a) psychoeducation, (b) safety, and (c) comfort level with research procedures. Research participants were willing to participate in future research regardless of their perception of medication efficacy. This study emphasizes the importance of understanding the opinions of persons with mental illness who participate in research. Overall, the data suggest that persons with mental illness find psychiatric research to be beneficial. Although therapeutic misconception cannot be ruled out given the methodology used, at the very least the data indicate no sign that subjects found research participation to be harmful. Further studies should explore the source of this perception and attempt to separate the effect of "therapeutic misconception" from possible real benefit of protocol-driven assessment and treatment in a reputable clinical environment.

Being a psychiatric patient in the community- reclassified as the stigmatized "other' '

To explore the experiences of psychiatric patients living in six rural communities in Norway from a primary care perspective. A "Knowledge workshop" (KW) was designed. It was a special kind of meeting between users of services for people with mental illness and service providers. The process and outcome were documented on flipcharts and audiotape and analysed by a qualitative method. A main statement was constructed in order to capture the essence of meaning in the 10 main themes identified in the analysis. The statement is mainly about the process and state of being reclassified as a stigmatized "other", with serious consequences for both self-esteem and public esteem. The consequences include isolation and loneliness, low self-esteem, no paid work, lack of money, discrimination, and harassment. Other consequences include altered behaviour from others, lack of necessary conditions for empowerment, and the danger of becoming visible as mentally ill. Attitudinal change is called for. Although the stigma of mental illness is a wellknown and much discussed fact, it has so far not really been included in the professional knowledge base. It is still practically absent from discussions of quality of care. In order for services to be relevant to people who need them, professionals can no longer ignore issues that are of major importance for users. Stigma must thus be included in the conceptual thinking about serving people with mental illness. The inclusion of stigma as an issue for quality of care could be a fruitful way forward.

Stigma and mental illness: A review and critique

Research on the extent and nature of psychiatric stigma is reviewed, with a goal of offering insights useful to the practising clinician. Many findings support the view that a label of psychiatric illness is stigmatising, but the effects of this stigma in practice seem to be complex. A number of factors, including age, sex and experience of psychiatric patients seem to affect levels of stigma, and selfstigmatisation also seems to be variable in its effects. Possible causes of stigma and approaches to combatting it are also discussed.

A Critique of “Oversimplified Images: Comments on …”

Stewart Page argues that my article “‘Control or Treatment?’ Experiences of People who have been Psychiatrically Hospitalized in New Brunswick” (CJCMII, Vol. 13 No. 1. Spring 1994) contains many oversimplifications. However, analyzing his critique reveals that Page makes some broad statements that seem to be based in a patronizing attitude toward people who have been psychiatrically hospitalized. For example, the experiences of psychiatric patients cannot be compared to those of non-psychiatric patients because the treatment of people with “mental illness” is regulated by a powerful measure: the Mental Health Act. Furthermore, the poor living conditions of some of the research participants had a major impact on their experiences inside the hospital. “Mental illness” is a complex and multi-faceted problem. The first step to gain insight into it is to listen to the voices of people who have first-hand experiences: people who have been psychiatrically hospitalized.

An investigation of change in medical students’ conceptualizations of psychiatric patients due to a short training course in psychiatry

The paper describes an investigation of medical students' conceptualizations of different psychiatric patients categories, using the Katz-Braly stereotype measuring technique and the semantic differential technique. The conceptual content of sixteen fourth year medical students' stereotypes of psychiatric patient categories was elicited and their evaluations of the categories were measured. These measures were taken before and after a two-month training course in psychiatry and special attention was paid to changes that appeared to result from the educational process. The Katz-Braly stereotype measure produces a work picture of each patients category involving four traits; for instance for the category neurotic the following traits were derived: 'temperamental', 'hypochondriacal', 'worried' and 'tense'. The important triats for each category were analysed separately to determine if any statistically significant changes in the stereotype had occurred over the two-month training course. Several significant additions and omissions of traits were found. These changes may be explained as the result of teaching, the students' direct experience of psychiatric patients and their acquisition of a new technical vocabulary. Despite the changes in the students' stereotypes of patients, their evaluations of the patients, as measured by the semantic differential, remained substantially unaltered by the training course.