title: Former patients' experience of psychiatric care: a qualitative investigation.
abstract: In this study, 10 former patients' experiences of hospitalization are described using a qualitative approach. The informant group consisted of three men and seven women with different diagnoses and each with his or her individual experience of life as an inpatient. The aim of this study was to extend our understanding of former psychiatric inpatients' experience their time of admission to a psychiatric inpatients unit. Data were collected and analysed using a content analysis approach. From the former patients' descriptions, the following five themes emerged: being seen as a disease, striving for a sense of control in an alienating and frightening context, succumbing to repressive care, meeting an omniscient master, and care as a light in the darkness. In conclusion, the experience of psychiatric inpatient care could be interpreted and understood from former patients' narratives as a struggle for dignity in the face of discrimination and rejection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, Mid-Sweden University, Sundsvall, Sweden. lars.lilja@miun.se
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lilja
authors.forename: Ove
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hellzén
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D004645:Empathy; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006272:Health Facility Environment; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology*; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D033262:Narration; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D015279:Organizational Culture; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden