Schizophrenia

Background: In recent years, there has been a gradual shift towards the study of individual symptom presentations in psychosis, this is particularly found in studies of delusional beliefs. However, the literature remains sparse on informal caregiver experiences of individual symptoms.

Aim: The study sought to investigate carer experiences of supporting a relative with delusional beliefs, which involve family members.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with five caregivers and subject to interpretative phenomenological analysis.

As more people with a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia live in the community, often with their own families, carers need increasing support. Reports on a small research study which found a link between carers' knowledge of the condition and their ability to manage problems, and between their sense of satisfaction with services and their communications with the mental health team.

To identify and evaluate the reliability and quality of educational materials provided to individuals with schizophrenia and their carers. Materials used by mental health professionals working in community and in-patient settings were collated. Two independent raters used the ‘Discern’ questionnaire to assess the publications.

This paper describes the impact that learning about recovery has on mental health carers, exploring the implications of this research for UK social work and beyond. A steering group co-produced a training intervention on recovery that was delivered by the first author and a carer, both with experiences of recovery, to eleven carers. Mainly qualitative data, with supplementary socio-demographic data, were collected to evaluate the impact of this training. Thematic analysis was applied to the data.

An evaluation was conducted of voluntary sector family support workers (FSWs) working with families of schizophrenia sufferers. FSWs completed a diary schedule and interviews were conducted with 15 co-professionals from the FSWs' multi-disciplinary teams and 62 carers from FSWs' caseloads. Carers' problems were assessed using the burden component of the Social and Behavioural Assessment Schedule and the Lancashire Quality of Life Profile. Carers were asked about the type of support received and their satisfaction.

The aim of this study was to illuminate the meaning of parental care-giving with reference to having an adult son or daughter with severe mental illness living in a care setting. The parents were asked to narrate their relationship to offspring in the past, in the present, and their thoughts and feelings concerning the future. The study was guided by a phenomenological hermeneutic perspective.

BACKGROUND: Although carers' reactions to schizophrenic illness in a close family member may have important implications for the patient and for themselves, little is known of factors that influence the way carers respond. In the area of physical health problems, people's models of their illness or illness representations have been found to be related to the ways they react and cope with their illness. This study examines the use of a modified form of the Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ) to investigate illness models in a sample of carers of schizophrenia patients.

Background There is a lack of instruments to measure the needs, stigma and informal care of people with schizophrenia that take account of sociocultural variation and patients' and formal and informal carers' opinions and experiences. Aims To develop questionnaires to measure stigma, needs and informal (non-professional) care for people with schizophrenia. Method We undertook the study in seven countries and in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

The author, a service user with schizophrenia,  discusses how she can utilize her position and produce research that is acceptable, reliable, and credible. She discusses this in relation to a research proposal to examine the role of the carer in the recovery process of people with schizophrenia.

The study of emotional over-involvement (EOI) has focused primarily on its relationship with patients' course of illness. The authors know little about the predictors and possible consequences of EOI for caregivers. Based on past research, they tested the hypotheses that EOI is associated with worse physical and psychological health among caregivers and examined whether caregiver burden and social support may mediate this relationship.