Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Basic attitudes toward life expressed by persons with long-term mental illness living in a Swedish community
Ersta Sköndal University College, Department of Health Care Sciences.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-4021-2393
Ersta Sköndal University College, Department of Health Care Sciences.
Ersta Sköndal University College, Department of Health Care Sciences.
2012 (English)In: Issues in Mental Health Nursing, ISSN 0161-2840, E-ISSN 1096-4673, Vol. 33, no 6, p. 387-393Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Previous research has shown that persons with long-term mental illness who require prolonged treatment and social support wish to, yet find it difficult to, find meaning or quality in life. A descriptive qualitative design using self-photography and in-depth interviews was used for data collection. The aim of this study was to explore basic attitudes to life as expressed by nine persons with long-term mental illness living in the community. The findings provide insight into the values of relationships, work, and the home for persons with long-term mental illness and indicate that they are cognizant of social norms yet have difficulty integrating these in their daily lives. The study also illuminates the informants' difficulties in creating satisfying and supporting relationships with others.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2012. Vol. 33, no 6, p. 387-393
National Category
Nursing
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:esh:diva-557DOI: 10.3109/01612840.2012.661520PubMedID: 22646203OAI: oai:DiVA.org:esh-557DiVA, id: diva2:344691
Note

Title in dissertation: Cautiousness : a basic attitudes towards life for persons with long-term mental illness

Publication status in dissertation: Submitted

Available from: 2010-08-20 Created: 2010-08-20 Last updated: 2022-01-03Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Berättelser om ensamhetens vardag hos människor med psykiska funktionshinder
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Berättelser om ensamhetens vardag hos människor med psykiska funktionshinder
2006 (Swedish)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

This dissertation deals with people with mental illness that currently live in their own accommodation in the community. Common to all mentally ill people is their serious difficulties in carrying out activities and meeting needs in important areas of life. Terms such as "normalisation" and "integration" into the community of this group were important words full of promise at the time the psychiatric reform was carried out. However, there is some strong evidence that the psychiatric reform has not been completely successful. Despite the knowledge that loneliness and social isolation commonly occur among people with mental illness, there is little research that describes how mentally ill people themselves experience their life situation. The overall aim of the dissertation was to gain deeper understanding of the life situation of peop with mental illness via their own narratives on how their day-to-day life appears to them, ar through this gain knowledge of the type of support needed for them to live a satisfactory life. Various data acquisition methods were applied. Study I involved in-depth interview of two men and two women on their daily life. Data acquisition in Study II was via participant observations, an activity unit for people with mental illness. Photographs were used for Studies III and IV Eight informants were issued with disposable cameras and asked to take approximately 10 pictures of objects, situations and/or individuals. These photographs were then used as a basis for follow-up interviews. Results from Study I showed that informants were aware both of their illness and their psychosocial disadvantages, and that they had insight into what was required of them to influence their situation, while simultaneously having insight into their poor ability to tak initiatives. Informants in Study II experienced themselves as unwelcome, vulnerable and marginalised individuals with little hope of a change in existence, resulting in anxiety over the future. They felt trust was lacking in relation to other people and experienced themselves as not accepted in the company of others or by society. Study III provided description of informants occupied with themselves and their existence. The informants tell of a form of spirituality giving them a sense of peace and tranquillity, but which only exists for them at the beginning and end ol life.

 Animals are more loyal than people and make no demands, but are however, according to the informants, in a position of dependence on humans. Possessions are of significance to the informants, meaning they see their possessions as part of themselves. In Study IV informants related how they would like their future to appear. They also told what having an identity meant to them, how identity is formed in individuals, what having a mental illness and feeling good means. The informants showed a longing to be seen, but at the same time not wanting to be seen. Finding a meaning with life was important since it could end at any moment.

In summary, the findings point to an existential loneliness that consists of a life pattern consisting of an interaction between the impact of the mental illness and the identity as a mentally ill person feelings of marginalisation and abandonment. Experiencing that life has a meaning, possibility o social exchange and a sense of control seem to be important for the persons with mental illness in this study. Consequently, it can be inferred that if the care of people with mental illness pays attention to the dimensions of existential loneliness persons with mental illness may be helped to experience that life has a meaning despite their disability.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Stockholm: Karolinska University Press, 2006. p. 90
Keywords
alienation, ethnography, existential loneliness, photography, participant observation, mental illness
National Category
Nursing
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:esh:diva-559 (URN)91-7357-023-0 (ISBN)
Public defence
2006-12-08, Novum, Hörsalen plan 4, Blickagången 6/Hälsovägen 7, Huddinge, 09:00 (Swedish)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2010-08-30 Created: 2010-08-30 Last updated: 2022-01-03Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textPubMed

Authority records

Erdner, AnetteMagnusson, Annabella

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Erdner, AnetteMagnusson, Annabella
By organisation
Department of Health Care Sciences
In the same journal
Issues in Mental Health Nursing
Nursing

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn
Total: 170 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf