Contributions of Persons With Serious Mental Illness to Their Families

Greenberg, Jan S.; Greenley, James R.; Benedict, Patricia

doi:10.1176/ps.45.5.475

Cited by 77 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…The importance of parental warmth and positive parental appraisals may be even more significant for adults with severe mental illness, who often confront acts of stigma or discrimination on a daily basis. Our findings as well as past research on the contributions of persons with mental illness to their family (29) suggest that when family members are able to look beyond their relative's deficits and recognize and affirm the relative's strengths, not only is their own burden reduced (30) but they also may contribute to the overall quality of life of their loved one. However, many families struggle with their relative's mental illness and may have difficulty stepping back to reflect on their relative's positive attributes without the encouragement of mental health clinicians.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 61%

Prosocial Family Processes and the Quality of Life of Persons With Schizophrenia

Greenberg

Knudsen²,

Aschbrenner³

2006

Psychiatric Services

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Objectives-Research on the family's contribution to the quality of life of persons with serious mental illness has largely focused on negative family interactions associated with poorer client outcomes. The purpose of this naturalistic study of aging mothers and adults with schizophrenia was to investigate prosocial family processes that potentially enhance, rather than detract from, the life satisfaction of persons with serious mental illness.Methods-The data were drawn from a longitudinal study of aging parents caring for a son or daughter with schizophrenia. This report is based on 122 mother-adult child dyads who participated in the third wave of the study. Mothers completed an in-home interview and questionnaire that included measures of the quality of the relationship between the mother and adult child, maternal warmth, and maternal praise of the adult child. The adult with schizophrenia completed a life satisfaction questionnaire.Results-The adults with schizophrenia had higher life satisfaction when their mothers expressed greater warmth and praise of their son or daughter with schizophrenia and when their mothers reported the quality of their relationship as being close and mutually supportive.Conclusions-Past research has emphasized changing families, most typically by lowering expressed emotion, with little emphasis on the families' strengths, in particular, prosocial family processes that may enhance the life satisfaction of their loved one. As a recovery orientation focuses on the strengths of adults with mental illness, it also should focus equally on the supportive presence of families in the lives of clients.Research on the family's contribution to the quality of life of persons with serious mental illness has focused largely on negative family interactions associated with poorer outcomes. The concept of expressed emotion has received the most attention, with an emphasis on the family's role in relapse through criticism of and overinvolvement in the life of the relative with mental illness. However, many families play a supportive role and serve as a safety net, because the demand for mental health services far exceeds their availability (1).Yet little is known about the types of family behaviors that enhance rather than detract from the quality of life of persons with schizophrenia. Lopez and colleagues (2) have begun to identify prosocial family processes, such as the expression of warmth and positive remarks, that support clients on their road to recovery. However, research on adults with schizophrenia has been limited to studying the relationship of these prosocial behaviors to relapse (3)(4)(5). The This article is part of a special section honoring the memory of three leaders in the psychosocial treatment of patients with severe and persistent mental disorders: Wayne S. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript purpose of this cross-sectional analysis of data drawn from a longitudinal study of families and adults with schizophrenia was to build upon ...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 61%

Prosocial Family Processes and the Quality of Life of Persons With Schizophrenia

Greenberg

Knudsen²,

Aschbrenner³

2006

Psychiatric Services

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“…All too often the focus of research is on the role of adults with disabilities as a burden to their family, with little recognition of their role as a source of family support. Our findings contribute to the emerging body of research documenting the positive and supportive role played by persons with disabilities within their family (Greenberg, 1995;Greenberg, Greenley, & Benedict, 1994;Heller et al, 1997;Summers, Behr, & Turnbull, 1989). Additional research is needed to investigate the role of adults with disabilities as supports to their family and the potential influence of this support in enhancing not only the quality of life of family members but, equally important, the quality of life of adults with disabilities.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

The Effect of Quality of the Relationship Between Mothers and Adult Children With Schizophrenia, Autism, or Down Syndrome on Maternal Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Optimism.

Greenberg

Seltzer

Krauss

et al. 2004

American Journal of Orthopsychiatry

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116

107

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This article investigates the effects of the quality of the relationship between maternal caregivers and their adult child with disabilities on maternal well‐being and whether this effect is mediated by dispositional optimism. Mothers caring for an adult child with Down syndrome (n = 126), schizophrenia (n = 292), or autism (n = 102) were surveyed. Mothers of adults with schizophrenia and autism had better psychological well‐being when the mother/adult child relationship was positive, but this effect was mediated totally or partially by optimism. For all 3 groups, optimism was related to better mental and physical health. The findings highlight the importance of dispositional optimism, a psychological resource that has been virtually ignored in studies of family caregivers of adults with disabilities.

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“…Esses resultados corroboram dados de Tessler & Gamache 34 , Bulger et al 9 e Greenberg et al 36 que também observaram que os sentimentos positivos dos familiares pelos pacientes serviam como moduladores de menor sobrecarga familiar. Esse resultado corrobora ainda as observações de Waidman 37 e Franco 38 sobre os familiares desejarem que os pacientes permaneçam em casa e recebam tratamento comunitário, ainda que isso altere a rotina dos cuidadores.…”

Section: Discussionunclassified

Fatores preditores da sobrecarga subjetiva de familiares de pacientes psiquiátricos atendidos na rede pública de Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brasil

2009

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Foram investigados os fatores preditores da sobrecarga subjetiva em familiares de pacientes psiquiátricos, sendo entrevistados 150 familiares de pacientes selecionados aleatoriamente em quatro serviços de saúde mental de Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brasil. Utilizou-se a Escala de Sobrecarga dos Familiares de Pacientes Psiquiátricos (FBIS-BR) e um questionário sócio-demográfico para coleta dos dados. As variáveis foram agrupadas em categorias temáticas analisadas separadamente para determinar a importância relativa dos fatores preditores. Os resultados mostraram que a sobrecarga subjetiva associou-se à sobrecarga objetiva e a fatores relacionados às condições clínicas dos pacientes, às condições de vida, estado de saúde e condições financeiras do cuidador e do paciente e às informações sobre o transtorno mental. O grau de sobrecarga subjetiva era menor quando o cuidador tinha lazer, atividades religiosas, admitia cuidar e tinha sentimentos positivos pelo paciente. Constatou-se a necessidade de incluir o acompanhamento aos familiares no modelo comunitário de atendimento psiquiátrico.

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Contributions of Persons With Serious Mental Illness to Their Families

Cited by 77 publications

References 2 publications

Prosocial Family Processes and the Quality of Life of Persons With Schizophrenia

Prosocial Family Processes and the Quality of Life of Persons With Schizophrenia

The Effect of Quality of the Relationship Between Mothers and Adult Children With Schizophrenia, Autism, or Down Syndrome on Maternal Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Optimism.

Fatores preditores da sobrecarga subjetiva de familiares de pacientes psiquiátricos atendidos na rede pública de Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brasil

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