Psychiatric Counsellors Experience of Caring for Schizophrenic Patients at Psychiatric Nursing Home

Abstract

Introduction: Schizophrenia is a grave mental illness, that hampers a person’s ability to think clearly, manage emotions, make decisions and relate to others. Counsellors are the primary care giver of the patients in the setting where the study was conducted. Therefore, a need was felt to study their experiences while caring for the patients. Aim: To explore psychiatric counsellor’s experiences of caring for inpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia. Materials and Methods: The setting was a Psychiatric Nursing home in Pune, Maharashtra, India. Psychiatric counsellors were recruited. Semi structured interviews were conducted. The data included demographic profile of the counsellors and structured interview questionnaire. To participate in this study, individuals had to be the psychiatric counsellor. Interpretative phenomenological design was used for the present study to understand the experiences of psychiatric counsellors caring for the schizophrenic patients for more than one year. Results: Two main categories developed: challenging and collaborative relationship between counsellor and patient, promoting well-being through counselling and support. The primary meaning of the main categories was interpreted and formulated as a hidden theme; promoting person-centered counselling support to patients suffering from schizophrenia. Conclusion: The study highlighted that psychiatric counsellors use different methods and strategies when promoting the wellbeing of schizophrenic patients.

Keywords

• behaviour
• expressions
• rehablitation