+1 (629)348-3199Meeting the needs of caregivers of patients with a severe mental illness
28th International Conference on Nursing Care
May 23-24, 2019 | Vienna, Austria
Zegwaard MI, M Aartsen, M Grypdonck and P Cuijpers
Altrecht Mental Health, The Netherlands Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Posters & Accepted Abstracts : J Intensive Crit Care Nurs
Abstract:
Central in the presentation is the support of caregivers of persons with severe mental illness (SMI) by mental health nurses. Due to the policy of deinstitutionalization a growing number of people with SMI live in the community and rely on families and others for support. A substantial amount of literature shows that these caregivers suffer from increased psychological distress and incur a greater risk of developing a mental illness themselves–especially- depression and anxiety disorders. These caregivers also have more stressrelated physical health problems. They need support in learning ways to handle the impact of the SMI on their lives and their wellbeing. In daily practice mental health care nurses witness the impact of SMI on the daily lives of the client and the caregiver. Due to for instance role ambiguity and uncertainty about their own skills mental health nurses hesitate to support these caregivers. In the presentation the usefulness and necessity of caregiver support is discussed. A recently developed evidence-based nurse-led caregiver support intervention is presented as an example of a sound structure supporting mental health nurses in their support of these caregivers.
Biography:
E-mail:
m.zegwaard@altrecht.nlPDF HTML