Open AccessCarers' involvement in decision making about antipsychotic medication: A qualitative study
Author(s) -
Stomski Norman J.,
Morrison Paul
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
health expectations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.314
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1369-7625
pISSN - 1369-6513
DOI - 10.1111/hex.12616
Subject(s) - snowball sampling , mental health , focus group , qualitative research , nursing , antipsychotic , psychology , medicine , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , psychiatry , social science , sociology , pathology , marketing , business
Background Current Australian mental health policy recommends that carers should be involved in the provision of mental health services. Carers often provide intensive support to mental health consumers and gain detailed insight into their lives. As such, carers could make valuable contributions to well‐informed decisions about mental health consumers' use of antipsychotic medication. Objectives The aim of this study was to explore carers' participation in antipsychotic medication decision making. Methods Snowball sampling was used to enrol 29 carers in this study. Of these carers, 19 participated in semi‐structured interviews, and ten participated in a focus group. Data were analysed thematically. Results Four main themes emerged from the analysis. The findings highlighted that carers typically received little or no information about antipsychotic medication. Carers commonly addressed the shortfall in information by obtaining additional information through online sources or distributing among carer networks material that they had developed themselves. Almost all carers emphasized that they should be involved in decisions about antipsychotic medication, but noted that they were typically excluded. The lack of involvement in medication decisions was a source of frustration, as carers could contribute saliently through sharing detailed knowledge about mental health consumers' lives, address communication gaps that resulted from disjointed care and improve communication between health professionals and mental health consumers. Conclusion Health professionals could consider improving the extent to which they collaborate with carers in medication decisions.