Perspectives of women living with schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE

The study investigated the perceptions of women with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder about their illness in the context of their life stages and corresponding health needs. This paper reports narratively and through direct quotations what the women's daily lives are like.

METHODS

Five focus groups totaling 28 women who identified themselves as having schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and who were living in the community met to discuss their health-related needs, ranging from parenting and reproductive health to relationships and getting older. Verbatim transcripts were analyzed inductively, and data were coded and organized around key themes.

RESULTS

This group of women led marginalized, deprived lives in the face of multiple losses, social stigma, limited interpersonal contacts, and poverty. Perceived rejection and criticism were commonplace. The women felt that the health care system focused on their illness and that they had become invisible as women. Nevertheless, they conveyed a persistent sense of wanting life to improve and hoping that it could.

CONCLUSIONS

The quality of a woman's life can be seriously impaired by illness or its treatment. Health care providers can help improve the lives of women with severe mental illness by focusing on how options and alternatives are presented, by exploring the impact of illness and treatment on a woman's day-to-day life, and by determining the appropriate structure of the therapeutic relationship.