The lived experience of a 24-hour support center for persons with psychiatric disabilities: Making me feel almost like an ordinary person

Abstract

This study illuminates nine psychiatric disabled persons’ lived experience of a newly established community-based service center open around the clock. This new 24-hour support center (SC) was established in 2011 in a Swedish community to better match and facilitate the disabled persons’ needs. In order to illuminate the disabled person’s experiences individual interview was performed. A phenomenological-hermeneutical method inspired by Paul Ricoeur was used to interpret the texts. After a naive reading, a structural analysis revealed two themes: 1), becoming aware of myself as a person, and 2) having a lifeline and belongingness. The comprehensive understanding was interpreted as meaning “Making me feel almost like an ordinary person”, which incorporated the person’s past with their present together with a direction for the future and hope for a more fulfilling life.

Share and Cite:

Janlöv, A. , Persson, I. and Berg, A. (2014) The lived experience of a 24-hour support center for persons with psychiatric disabilities: Making me feel almost like an ordinary person. Open Journal of Nursing, 4, 42-50. doi: 10.4236/ojn.2014.41007.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1] Funk, M., Drew, N., Freeman, M., Faydi and Edwige, V. (2010) Mental Health and development: Targeting people with mental health conditions as a vulnerable group. World Health Organisation.
[2] NBHW (2013) National evaluation in 2013—Care and interventions for depression, anxiety and Schizofrenia. Recommendations, assessments and summary. National Board of Health and Welfare, Stockholm.
[3] NBHW (2011) National Guidelines for Psychosocial Interventions in Schizofrenia or Shitzofrenia—Type conditions—Support for Guvernance and Management. National Board of Health and Welfare, Stockholm.
[4] Janlöv, A.C. and Berg, A. (2013) The nurses’ voice of working in a newly established community based 24-hour support center for people with psychiatric disabilities. Open Journal of Nursing, 3, 195-201.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojn.2013.32026
[5] Rosenberg, D. (2009) Psychiatric disability in the community. Surveying the social landscape in the post-deinstitutional era. Ph.D. Thesis, Umeå University, Umeå.
[6] Perry, Y., Henry, J.D., Sethi, N. and Grisham, J.R. (2011) The pain persists: How social exclusion affects individuals with schizophrenia. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 50, 339-349.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1348/014466510X523490
[7] Lundberg, B. (2007) Sociodemographic and clinical factors related to devaluation/discrimination and rejection experiences among persons of psychiatric health services. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 42, 295-300. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00127-007-0160-9
[8] Van Zelst, C. (2009) Stigmatization as an environpsychiatric risk in schizophrenia. Schitzofrenia Bullentin, 35, 293-296.
[9] Lindqvist, R., Markström, U. and Rosenberg, D. (2010) Psychiatric disability in the society: Actors, service, reforms. Gleerups förlag, Lund.
[10] Nyström (1999) Serious mentally disturbed people’s everyday lives. Ph.D. Thesis, Gothenburg University, Gothenburg.
[11] Erdner, A., Andersson, L., Magnusson, A. and Lutzén, K. (2009) Varying views of life among people with longterm mental illness. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 16, 54-60.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jpm.2009.16.issue-1
[12] Erdner, A., Nyström, M., Lutzén, K. and Severinsson, E. (2002) Psycho social disadvantages in the lives of persons with long term psychiatric illness in a Swedish community. Journal of Psychiatric and Psychiatric Health Nursing, 9, 457-463.
[13] Klamas, M. (2010) By own power along with others. Persons with psychiatric disabilities, social support and recovery. Ph.D. Thesis, Gothenburg University, Göteborg.
[14] SFS (1982) Health and Medical Services Act. Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, Stockholm.
[15] SFS (2001) Social Services Act. Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, Stockholm
[16] SFS (1993) Act of support and service for the disabled. Ministry of Health and Social Affairs Stockholm.
[17] NBHW (2012) National supervision of municipal service to persons with psychiatric disabilities 2009-2011. National Board of Health and Welfare, Stockholm.
[18] Thornicroft, G., Rose, D., Huxley, P., Dale, G. and Wykes, T. (2002) Editorial: What are the research priorities of mental health service persons? Journal of Mental Health, 11, 1-5.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/096382301200041416
[19] Lindseth, A. and Norberg, A. (2004) A Phenomenological hermeneutical method for researching lived experience. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 18, 145-153. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6712.2004.00258.x
[20] Ricoeur, P. (1976) Interpretation Theory. Discourse and the Surplus of Meaning. Christian University Press, Fort Worth, Texas.
[21] Ricoeur, P. (1992) From Text to Action. An Anthology on Hermeneutics. Symposion, Stockholm.
[22] Mishler, E.G. (1986) Research Interviewing: Context and Narrative. Harvard University Press, London.
[23] Codex (2012) Rules and guidelines.
[24] Kogstad, Ekeland and Hummelvoll (2011) In defence of a humanistic approach to mental health care: Recovery processes investigated with the help of persons’ narratives on turning points and processes of gradual change. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 18, 479-486. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2850.2011.01695.x
[25] Slade, M., Williams, J., Bird, V., Leamy, M. and Le Boutillier, C. (2012) Recovery grows up. Journal of Mental Health, 21, 99-104.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/09638230903191256
[26] Schröder, A., Ahlström, G. and Wilde, B.W. (2006) Patients’ perceptions of the concept of the quality of care in the psychiatric setting: A phenomenographic study. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 15, 93-102.
[27] Grönberg Eskel, M. (2012) From closed institutions to institutionalized care. Ph.D. Thesis, Karlstad University, Karlstad.
[28] Illich, I. (1975) Limits to medicine. Boyars Publishers, London.
[29] Goffman, E. (1991) Asylums. Essays on the Social situation of Mental Patients and other inmates. Penguin Books Ltd.
[30] Lilja, L. and Hellzén, O. (2008) Former patients’ experience of psychiatric care: A Qualitative investigation. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 17, 279-286. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1447-0349.2008.00544.x
[31] Borg, M. and Kristiansen, K. (2004) Recovery-oriented professionals: Helping relationships in mental health services. Journal of Mental Health, 13, 493-505.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09638230400006809
[32] Lindell, L. (2003). Between healthy and ill: A study of Psychiatric Outpatient Care. Ph.D., Thesis, Lund University, Lund.
[33] Syrén, S. (2010) The unsaid and the unspoken suffering. Life for people with chronic psychotic illness and their families. Ph. D Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Kalmar, Växjö.
[34] Laing, R.D. (2010) The divided self. An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness. Penguin Classics.
[35] Sandin, B. (1986) The zebra stripe poodle core. Rabén & Sjögren, Stockholm.
[36] Belin, S. (1987) Schizofrenia treatment. Psychiatry of life and death. Natur och Kultur, Stockholm.
[37] Buber, M. (1971) I and Thou. Simon and Schuster, New York.
[38] Blumer, H. (1969) Symbolic interactionism. Prentice Hall inc, New Jersey.
[39] Ricoeur, P. (1992b) Oneself as another. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
[40] Slade, M. (2009) Editorial. The contribution of mental health services to recovery. Journal of Mental Health, 18, 376-371. http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/09638230903191256
[41] Davidson, L. and Strauss, J. (2011) Sense of self in recovery from severe mental illness. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 65, 131-145.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8341.1992.tb01693.x
[42] Repper, J. (2000) Adjusting the focus of mental health nursing: Incorporating service persons’ experiences of recovery. Journal of Mental Health, 9, 575-587.
[43] Williams, C.C. and Tufford, L. (2012) Professional competencies for promoting recovery in mental illness. Psychiatry, 75, 190-201.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1521/psyc.2012.75.2.190
[44] Lincoln, Y.S. and Guba, E. G. (1985) Naturalistic Inquiry. Sage Publications, London.
[45] Patton, M.Q. (2002) Qualitative Research & Evaluation Methods. 3rd Edition, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks.

Copyright © 2024 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.

Creative Commons License

This work and the related PDF file are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.