IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jocnur/v27y2018i7-8p1507-1518.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Trapped like a butterfly in a spider's web: Experiences of female spousal caregivers in the care of husbands with severe mental illness

Author

Listed:
  • Farnaz Rahmani
  • Hossein Ebrahimi
  • Naeimeh Seyedfatemi
  • Hossein Namdar Areshtanab
  • Fatemeh Ranjbar
  • Bill Whitehead

Abstract

Aims and objectives To explore the experiences of female spousal caregivers in the care of husbands with severe mental illness. Background Family involvement in the care of patients with chronic illness is essential to provide a backbone of support for them. However, little is known about how female spousal caregivers are confronted with challenges while taking care of their husbands with severe mental illness. Design An exploratory qualitative study. Methods Fourteen female spousal caregivers of people with severe mental illness (defined here as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorders and bipolar affective disorders) were recruited using purposive sampling and were interviewed using a semistructured in‐depth interview method. Data were analysed by conventional content analysis until data saturation was achieved. Results Care of a husband with severe mental illness had a disruptive influence on the emotional relationships of the family and resulted in emotional detachment over time. Despite the caregivers’ struggle to protect their families, the lack of supportive resources caused emotional exhaustion. Caregiving tasks interfering with their many other responsibilities, along with being a reference for family matters, led to loss of self. Consequently, they experienced psychological distress because of the transition to a caregiver role without any supportive resources. Conclusion Constant caring, without supportive resources, forced them to do various roles and manage other issues within the family. Being unprepared for a caregiving role led to the psychological distress of female spousal caregivers. Therefore, adequate information, education and supportive resources must be provided for spouses to facilitate their transition to caregiving roles. Relevance to clinical practice It is necessary to pay close attention to the spousal caregivers’ own mental health problems while they care for their mentally ill husbands. Mental health professionals should adopt a new approach to the prioritisation and planning of policies that support both family caregivers and patients.

Suggested Citation

  • Farnaz Rahmani & Hossein Ebrahimi & Naeimeh Seyedfatemi & Hossein Namdar Areshtanab & Fatemeh Ranjbar & Bill Whitehead, 2018. "Trapped like a butterfly in a spider's web: Experiences of female spousal caregivers in the care of husbands with severe mental illness," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(7-8), pages 1507-1518, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jocnur:v:27:y:2018:i:7-8:p:1507-1518
    DOI: 10.1111/jocn.14286
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.14286
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jocn.14286?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elham Navab & Reza Negarandeh & Hamid Peyrovi, 2012. "Lived experiences of Iranian family member caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s disease: caring as ‘captured in the whirlpool of time’," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(7‐8), pages 1078-1086, April.
    2. Sharon CH Tan & Ai Lean Yeoh & Irene BK Choo & Adeline PH Huang & Seng Hong Ong & Hafizah Ismail & Pei Pei Ang & Yiong Huak Chan, 2012. "Burden and coping strategies experienced by caregivers of persons with schizophrenia in the community," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(17‐18), pages 2410-2418, September.
    3. Hughes, Nic & Locock, Louise & Ziebland, Sue, 2013. "Personal identity and the role of ‘carer’ among relatives and friends of people with multiple sclerosis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 78-85.
    4. Martin Pinquart & Silvia Sörensen, 2006. "Gender Differences in Caregiver Stressors, Social Resources, and Health: An Updated Meta-Analysis," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 61(1), pages 33-45.
    5. Birgitta Andershed & Mats Ewertzon & Anita Johansson, 2017. "An isolated involvement in mental health care – experiences of parents of young adults," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(7-8), pages 1053-1065, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mustafa Ozgun Atalay & Pınar Aydemir & Taner Acuner, 2022. "The Influence of Emotional Exhaustion on Organizational Cynicism: The Sequential Mediating Effect of Organizational Identification and Trust in Organization," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, April.
    2. Loujain Sharif & Shimaa Basri & Fidaa Alsahafi & Mashael Altaylouni & Shihanah Albugumi & Maram Banakhar & Alaa Mahsoon & Nofaa Alasmee & Rebecca J. Wright, 2020. "An Exploration of Family Caregiver Experiences of Burden and Coping While Caring for People with Mental Disorders in Saudi Arabia—A Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-15, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cinzia Di Novi & Rowena Jacobs & Matteo Migheli, 2013. "The quality of life of female informal caregivers: from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean Sea," Working Papers 084cherp, Centre for Health Economics, University of York.
    2. Marissa M Rurka & J Jill Suitor & Megan Gilligan & Robert T Frase & Zhen Cong, 2023. "How Do Own and Siblings’ Genders Shape Caregivers’ Risk of Perceiving Care-Related Criticism From Siblings?," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 78(3), pages 520-531.
    3. Urwin, Sean & Lau, Yiu-Shing & Grande, Gunn & Sutton, Matt, 2021. "The extent and predictors of discrepancy between provider and recipient reports of informal caregiving," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    4. Thomas Hansen & Marcela Petrová Kafková & Ruth Katz & Ariela Lowenstein & Sigal Naim & George Pavlidis & Feliciano Villar & Kieran Walsh & Marja Aartsen, 2021. "Exclusion from Social Relations in Later Life: Micro- and Macro-Level Patterns and Correlations in a European Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-16, November.
    5. Young Kyung Do & Edward C. Norton & Sally C. Stearns & Courtney Harold Van Houtven, 2015. "Informal Care and Caregiver's Health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(2), pages 224-237, February.
    6. Miller, Ray & Sedai, Ashish Kumar, 2022. "Opportunity costs of unpaid caregiving: Evidence from panel time diaries," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 22(C).
    7. Karen Siedlecki & Timothy Salthouse & Shigehiro Oishi & Sheena Jeswani, 2014. "The Relationship Between Social Support and Subjective Well-Being Across Age," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 117(2), pages 561-576, June.
    8. Paul Glavin & Amanda Peters, 2015. "The Costs of Caring: Caregiver Strain and Work-Family Conflict Among Canadian Workers," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 5-20, March.
    9. Chiu‐Yueh Hsiao, 2010. "Family demands, social support and caregiver burden in Taiwanese family caregivers living with mental illness: the role of family caregiver gender," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(23‐24), pages 3494-3503, December.
    10. George Lavers & Karl Andriessen & Karolina Krysinska, 2022. "A Systematic Review of the Experiences and Support Needs of Informal Caregivers for People Who Have Attempted Suicide or Experienced Suicidal Ideation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-20, April.
    11. Ángel L. Martín-Román & Alfonso Moral & Sara Pinillos-Franco, 2024. "Are women breaking the glass ceiling? A gendered analysis of the duration of sick leave in Spain," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 107-134, March.
    12. Suah Kang & Miji Kim & Chang Won Won, 2020. "Spousal Concordance of Physical Frailty in Older Korean Couples," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-10, June.
    13. Signe A. Abrahamsen & Maja Weemes Grøtting, 2023. "Formal care of the elderly and health outcomes among adult daughters," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(2), pages 436-461, February.
    14. Tokunaga, Mutsumi & Hashimoto, Hideki, 2017. "The socioeconomic within-gender gap in informal caregiving among middle-aged women: Evidence from a Japanese nationwide survey," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 48-53.
    15. Christine Unson & Anuli Njoku & Stanley Bernard & Martin Agbalenyo, 2023. "Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Chronic Stress among Male Caregivers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(12), pages 1-13, June.
    16. Farzad Rahmani & Shiva Salmasi & Farnaz Rahmani & Jamie Bird & Elnaz Asghari & Navide Robai & Mohammad Asghari Jafarabadi & Leila Gholizadeh, 2019. "Domestic violence and suicide attempts among married women: A case–control study," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(17-18), pages 3252-3261, September.
    17. Leane, Máire, 2019. "Siblings caring for siblings with Intellectual Disabilities: Naming and negotiating emotional tensions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 264-270.
    18. Lars Thiel, 2016. "Caring Alone? Social Capital and the Mental Health of Caregivers," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 860, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    19. O'Reilly, Dermot & Connolly, Sheelah & Rosato, Michael & Patterson, Chris, 2008. "Is caring associated with an increased risk of mortality? A longitudinal study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(8), pages 1282-1290, October.
    20. Zainab Kausar Khan & Sonia Chaudhary, 2023. "Mediating Role of Coping Styles in the Relationship Between Caregivers’ Burden of Cancer Patients and their Psychological Well-being," Journal of Policy Research (JPR), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 9(2), pages 724-731.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:jocnur:v:27:y:2018:i:7-8:p:1507-1518. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-2702 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.