The aim of this research was to explore the experiences of nurses and other health professionals who are mothers of adult children diagnosed with schizophrenia. The goal was to determine the enabling conditions and systems that facilitated them in their dual roles.
Methods:
The researchers chose to use a feminist informed storytelling research design. An important factor in this decision involved a desire to give the mothers, who agreed to participate in the study, their own voice. Feminist storytelling research is situated within the social constructivist (interpretivist) research paradigm but is also guided by a transformative research paradigm as described by Mertens (2010).
The participants were interviewed either face to face or via Skype and the interviews were recorded using a digital voice recorder. The digital recordings were transcribed verbatim after each interview.
The specific iteration of data analysis which was used in the study is a form of narrative analysis known as thematic analysis. Thematic analysis has been described by Braun and Clarke (2006) as a process which can identify, analyse and report themes and results in data. The process of analysis involved a focus on the thematic content with an attentiveness paid to the stories told by the storyteller (Riessman, 2001). The researcher’s focus was on what the mothers had said rather than how they said it (Riessman & Quinney, 2005). The data was comprised of the mothers’ stories which had been transcribed into interview transcripts. The transcripts were then read and re-read until the content became familiar, important features (codes) in the data were dentified (Braun & Clarke, 2013). The themes were constructed from codes that had coalesced the varied data which then were used to capture the essential characteristics within the transcriptions (Braun & Clarke 2013; Nowell, Norris, White, & Moules, 2017). The emergent themes were then used to formulate answers to the research questions.
Inclusion criteria: Biological mother of an adult child diagnosed with schizophrenia and a health professional.
Results:
Thirteen participants agreed to participate and were interviewed. The participants were predominantly nurses (9 n) and came from Australia, Canada, Scotland and the United States of America. The data (interviews) was collected from November 2017- July 2018.
The thematic analysis of the data from the participants’ interviews revealed one overarching theme which encapsulated their experiences. The overarching theme was transforming from living a disrupted life to becoming a disruptor. The transformative process occurred organically as the mothers used all of their professional and mothering skills to advocate for their own child. Their experiences enabled them to see the mental health system with a new perspective and they became empowered to use their voices to advocate for others in similar circumstances.
The journey that led to their transformation from living a disrupted life to becoming a disruptor was underpinned by four major themes. The four themes were: reacting to the alarm bells; establishing a changed identity; living with an uncertain future; and sharing their burden and wisdom.
Conclusion:
The research deepened the understanding of the dual roles of nurses/mothers by creating vivid stories of their experiences of supporting their adult children within the health care system. Nurses and other health professionals will be able to use this information to improve services for family members and their loved ones who live with schizophrenia. The study also contributes to the current body of knowledge of how health care systems can improve clinical outcomes for patients by engaging with and supporting their family members.