Familjemedlemmars upplevelser av att vara anhörig till en person med schizofreni.

Background: Schizophrenia is a serious disease with potential to implicate consequences on both the family and the sick. Nurses have a fundamental responsibility to relieve suffering, and also to offer support to both the individual and the family. Aim: To illuminate experiences of being a family member to a person with schizophrenia. Method: A systematic literature review was chosen. Nine articles were included. After having analyzed the results six categories were found. Result: The family members experienced the disease as fluctuating and stressful. Some felt ashamed for their sick family member and withdrew from the rest of the society. It was also common to grieve over the sick family member as they felt they had lost the person he/she ones was. Most studies showed that family members were disappointed with the psychiatric care. They felt excluded from the caring process and lack of information. Hopefully the result of this study leads to that nurses can offer increased support and understanding to the family. Conclusions: Disease and illness may affect on the whole life situation. To support a family in a crisis it is necessary to understand the person’s lifeworld and to be able to change their beliefs