The Experiences of People with Schizophrenia or Shizoaffective Disorder in Accessing Non-Psychiatric Health Care
type: CreativeWork
description: In this study, a phenomenological approach was used to understand the lived experience of individuals with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder when accessing non-psychiatric health care services. Healthcare can be accessed upon a variety of levels such as primary care physicians, specialized physicians, or emergency services. For the purpose of this study, all three levels of entry to healthcare were considered and included. Doing so provided a rich description of overall healthcare services accessed and the ways in which this population experienced accessing it. The findings from this study will contribute to the literature available to identify the ways in which people with a major mental illness experience healthcare, choose to access it, factors that impact the experiences, as well as ways in which healthcare practitioners can better support this population in receiving satisfactory care. In using a phenomenological perspective, multiple interviews were conducted with six participants. From the interviews data was transcribed and significant statements were identified. A total of 348 significant statements were identified and then clustered into six common themes and three sub themes. The six significant themes included the experiences of the onset of mental illness, physical health experiences, unsatisfactory experiences, family support, community support, and the relationship with the psychiatrist. From these major themes three sub themes were also identified; reciprocation of support, mutual respect in the relationship between the patient and healthcare professional, and lack of trust for healthcare professionals. Overall the reported findings were mixed with both negative and positive experiences. This study highlighted the importance of a positive patient-psychiatrist relationship and the concept of mutual respect in this relationship. Participants that identified a level of mutual respect in this relationship also reported higher rates of satisfactio…
abstract: In this study, a phenomenological approach was used to understand the lived experience of individuals with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder when accessing non-psychiatric health care services. Healthcare can be accessed upon a variety of levels such as primary care physicians, specialized physicians, or emergency services. For the purpose of this study, all three levels of entry to healthcare were considered and included. Doing so provided a rich description of overall healthcare services accessed and the ways in which this population experienced accessing it. The findings from this study will contribute to the literature available to identify the ways in which people with a major mental illness experience healthcare, choose to access it, factors that impact the experiences, as well as ways in which healthcare practitioners can better support this population in receiving satisfactory care. In using a phenomenological perspective, multiple interviews were conducted with six participants. From the interviews data was transcribed and significant statements were identified. A total of 348 significant statements were identified and then clustered into six common themes and three sub themes. The six significant themes included the experiences of the onset of mental illness, physical health experiences, unsatisfactory experiences, family support, community support, and the relationship with the psychiatrist. From these major themes three sub themes were also identified; reciprocation of support, mutual respect in the relationship between the patient and healthcare professional, and lack of trust for healthcare professionals. Overall the reported findings were mixed with both negative and positive experiences. This study highlighted the importance of a positive patient-psychiatrist relationship and the concept of mutual respect in this relationship. Participants that identified a level of mutual respect in this relationship also reported higher rates of satisfactio…
author: Richardson, Jessica Lena
language: en
date published: 2018-05
date modified: 2026-07-24T04:03:25Z
provider: University of Regina
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/10294/8518

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.82465/3700