Wong Daniel Teck Lung, Tong Seng Fah, Daud Tuti Iryani Mohd, Aziz Salina Abdul, Midin Marhani
Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Front Psychiatry. 2020 Feb 14;10:962. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00962. eCollection 2019.
Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness that leads to significant productivity loss and is listed in the top 15 global burdens of disease. One important contributor to the high disease burden is duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) which can be shortened with promotion of professional help-seeking behavior. This study explored caregivers' perspective on factors influencing professional help-seeking behavior during first episode psychosis (FEP) in schizophrenia in Malaysia. The results of this study would inform the development of intervention strategies targeted at promoting professional help-seeking behavior in caregivers of individuals experiencing first episode psychosis (FEP). This is a thematic exploratory study which employed purposive sampling using focus group discussion (FGD). These interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Basic thematic approach was used in analyzing the transcribed interviews. Two main themes identified were adequacy of knowledge and stigma. These two factors were found to co-influence each other. Stigma undermined the impact of knowledge on professional help-seeking; likewise, the reverse was also observed. Intervention strategies for promoting help-seeking behavior during FEP should simultaneously focus on improving knowledge about schizophrenia and reducing the stigma attached to it.
精神分裂症是一种严重的精神疾病，会导致生产力大幅下降，位列全球15大疾病负担之首。疾病负担高的一个重要因素是未治疗精神病的持续时间（DUP），而通过促进专业求助行为可以缩短这一持续时间。本研究探讨了马来西亚精神分裂症首次发作精神病（FEP）期间护理人员对影响专业求助行为因素的看法。本研究结果将为制定干预策略提供依据，这些策略旨在促进首次发作精神病（FEP）患者护理人员的专业求助行为。这是一项主题探索性研究，采用焦点小组讨论（FGD）进行目的抽样。这些访谈进行了录音，并逐字转录。采用基本主题方法对转录的访谈进行分析。确定的两个主要主题是知识的充分性和耻辱感。发现这两个因素相互共同影响。耻辱感削弱了知识对专业求助的影响；同样，反之也成立。在首次发作精神病（FEP）期间促进求助行为的干预策略应同时注重提高对精神分裂症的认识和减少与之相关的耻辱感。
