Population Policy and Practice, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health Population Policy and Practice, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
J Ment Health. 2024 Jun;33(3):333-340. doi: 10.1080/09638237.2022.2069710. Epub 2022 May 6.
Antipsychotics are routinely prescribed to people diagnosed with schizophrenia or psychosis on a long-term basis. Considerable literature explores service users' opinions and experiences of antipsychotics, but studies investigating family members' views are lacking.
To explore family members' perspectives on antipsychotics, particularly their views on long-term use, reduction and discontinuation of antipsychotics.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 family members of people experiencing psychosis. Participants were recruited through community support groups and mental health teams. Interviews were analysed thematically.
The majority of family members valued antipsychotic medication primarily in supporting what they saw as a fragile stability in the person they cared for. Their views of medication were ambivalent, combining concerns about adverse effects with a belief in the importance of medication due to fears of relapse. They described a need for constant vigilance in relation to medication to ensure it was taken consistently, and often found changes, particularly reduction in medication difficult to contemplate.
Findings highlight that family members' attitudes to medication sometimes conflict with those of the people they care for, impacting on their health and the caring relationship. Family members may need more support and could be usefully involved in medication decision-making.
抗精神病药通常被开给长期被诊断为精神分裂症或精神病的患者。有大量文献探讨了服务使用者对抗精神病药物的看法和经验，但缺乏研究调查家庭成员的观点。
探讨家庭成员对抗精神病药物的看法，特别是他们对抗精神病药物长期使用、减少和停用的看法。
对 11 名经历精神病的人的家庭成员进行了半结构化访谈。参与者是通过社区支持小组和心理健康小组招募的。对访谈进行了主题分析。
大多数家庭成员主要看重抗精神病药物，认为这是对他们所关心的人脆弱稳定状态的支持。他们对药物的看法是矛盾的，既担心副作用，又相信药物的重要性，因为担心复发。他们描述了需要对药物进行持续的监督，以确保药物的持续服用，而且他们发现药物的变化，特别是减少药物的使用，很难被接受。
研究结果表明，家庭成员对药物的态度有时与他们所照顾的人存在冲突，这影响了他们的健康和照顾关系。家庭成员可能需要更多的支持，并且可以在药物决策中得到有益的参与。
