The family in the context of mental health and the challenges faced with psychiatric readmissions of the sick family member

Abstract

Objective: to understand how families of people with mental disorders perceive their family member's frequent hospitalizations. Methods: qualitative study carried out in 2022, with data referring to 2019 and based on symbolic interactionism. Family members of people with more than two hospitalizations in a psychiatric hospital in the interior of the state of São Paulo, Brazil, were interviewed. The interviews were subjected to content analysis using the Iramuteq software. Results: 18 family members and 18 patients participated, and, from the thematic analysis, six classes of words were created that describe the family's coexistence with the person with a mental disorder and the frequent hospitalizations in two different moments called: critical daily life (Non-adherence of the patient to the medication and psychosocial treatment; Understanding of the patient's non-adherence to medication; Vulnerability in the practice of care) and stable daily life (Family and the use of social and health equipment; The family and the search for hospitalization; The family: mental illness and other comorbidities). This coexistence is marked by overload of care, disbelief in the improvement of the ill family member and the care they receive from the health system. Conclusion: families face several difficulties in the care provided to family members with mental disorders, notably medication adherence and ambiguity of feelings regulating relationships; Therefore, they assume all care if they feel weakened by the lack of support from the Psychosocial Care Network, other services in the intersectoral network and health professionals.