Did anything change? Caregivers and schizophrenia after medication changes.
This paper reports on a qualitative, critical study into the lives of relatives and partners of people living with enduring effects of schizophrenia. A review of the literature showed that caregivers and relatives of sufferers were seldom asked about their experiences, instead they were subject to blame or criticism regarding their parental or caregiving practices. Caregivers of people with schizophrenia were interviewed in order to reveal their experience of caring for their kin after a medication change to atypical neuroleptics. The interview analysis was compared with mental health professional literature, using a Foucauldian approach to reveal the operation of language and power in the positioning of caregivers. This analysis was then compared to the talk of the caregivers. Similarities and differences in their ways of talking about caring were identified. Caregivers spoke of protracted periods of time before the establishment of a definite diagnosis, ambivalence about medication and 'never giving up'. The paper concludes that life for caregivers is constituted as doubly problematic, experiencing stigma personally and vicariously through their kin.
Rudge
T
T
School of Nursing, Flinders University, Adelaide SA 5001, Australia. trudy.rudge@flinders.edu.au
Morse
K
K
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006167:Guilt; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D011788:Quality of Life; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012944:Social Support; D013240:Stereotyping; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents