The Burden of a Family in Caring For Members Who Suffer From Mental Disorders

Abstract

Abstract - Changes and advancement of people daily living have extremely complex consequences, thereby constructive adaptation processes are necessary in dealing with it. However, not all individuals have the ability to constructively adapt to a change so that it can ultimately cause mental disorders. Exploration of the family burden as a support system for the patients is very important because of the high dependence of the patients to their family in dealing with the disease. Even though it is also a responsibility for the family members to be concerned of the patients condition. This study aims to explore the burden of a family in caring for a family member who is mentally disturbed. A phenomenological approach was applied in this qualitative research. In-depth interviews were concluded after obtaining data saturation. Data saturation was acquired after interviewing 5 families of patients. Data analysis conducted using the Collaizi method which resulted in four themes, namely: The burden experienced since the beginning of patients ‘caring, raging emotions as n negative yet hidden impact of caring, the economic problems due to costs needed to treat the patients and the feeling of failure in caring which disrupt the treatment progress. It was concluded that treating mentally disordered patients could also burden the families, notably the psychology aspect. Therefore the cooperation of the family is a crucial matter to provide in caring for the sufferers.