Abstract
A first time psychiatric admission of a family member with acute mental illness is a life transition for the family. In-depth interviews were conducted with family members present at the time of hospitalization (N = 16 families). Interviews were done with this family group and with individual family members during the first week of the hospitalization to explore family management of the transition. Data were analyzed using Life Transition Theory. The purpose of this study was to explore how families managed the uncertainty of an initial hospitalization for a newly diagnosed mentally ill family member. Prior to the hospitalization of the family member, families described phases of becoming aware that there was a psychiatric problem. Families described experiencing awareness of the mental illness through either amplification or accumulation of patient symptoms.
Sigma Membership
Kappa Mu
Type
Dissertation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
N/A
Research Approach
Qualitative Research
Keywords:
Psychiatric Admission, Family Experiences, Life Transition Theory
Advisor
Florence Selder
Second Advisor
Joan Wilk
Third Advisor
Stacy Oliker
Degree
PhD
Degree Grantor
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Degree Year
1994
Recommended Citation
Forsyth, Diane M., "Families and the life transition of first time mental illness: Swept along on the waves" (2024). Dissertations. 1881.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/dissertations/1881
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.
All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.
All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
None: Degree-based Submission
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2024-07-30
Full Text of Presentation
wf_yes
Description
This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 9527037; ProQuest document ID: 304127064. The author still retains copyright.