Lived Experiences of Primary Caregivers in Preventing Relapse of the Disease in Schizophrenia Patients

Abstract

This descriptive qualitative research aims to study the life experiences of primary caregivers in recurrence prevention care for schizophrenic patients. The information providers are the primary caregivers of a schizophrenic patient who was previously treated at Surin Hospital. There were 12 people purportedly selected according to the following inclusion criteria: 1) living with the patient in the same houses; 2) being at aged 30 years and over; 3) taking care of schizophrenic patients in good conditions and did not receive repeated treatment for more than 5 years; 4) had life experiences that helped the patient not to get relapsed; 5) earing sufficient career income; 6) having positive attitudes. Data have been collected through in-depth interviews, following the semi-structured interview approach. When the information was saturated, the data have been analyzed by descriptive content analysis.

The results show that the life experiences of primary caregivers that help prevent relapse, or vice versa, in schizophrenic patients, consist of 1) factors of success come from taking care of the patients with kindness and generosity so that they have chances to show their potential, not withdrawing the medicines and not getting sick repeatedly 2) on the contrary, an obstacle of success occurs in cases that the caregivers do not have a way to manage patients and getting stress themselves. 3) sincere help and supportive encouragement from others bring the caregivers to get through many obstacles., and 4) provide kindliness and assistance as needed

Mental health teams and local governments should apply the research results to develop better caregivers. Research on a model or program to develop caregiver skills for schizophrenic patients to prevent relapses should be continually done.