Division of Psychiatry, University College London, 149 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1T 7NF, UK.
BMC Psychiatry. 2022 May 20;22(1):347. doi: 10.1186/s12888-022-03872-9.
The negative impact of caregiving on carers' physical and psychological wellbeing is well documented. Carers of mental health inpatients have particularly negative experiences and largely report being dissatisfied with how they and their loved one are treated during inpatient care. It remains unclear why, despite policies intended to improve inpatient experiences. A comprehensive review of carers' inpatient experiences is needed to understand carer needs. As such, we aimed to conduct a systematic review and thematic synthesis of carer experiences of inpatient mental health care.
We searched MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Embase and CINAHL for qualitative studies examining carer experiences of mental health inpatient care. Searches were supplemented by reference list screening and forward citation tracking of included studies. Results were synthesised using thematic synthesis. Our protocol was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42020197904) and our review followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.
Twelve studies were included from 6 countries. Four themes were identified: the emotional journey of inpatient care; invisible experts; carer concerns about quality of care for their loved one; and relationships and partnership between carers, service users and staff.
Greater attention should be paid to ensure carers are well-supported, well-informed, and included in care. More emphasis must be placed on fostering positive relationships between carers, service users and staff and in facilitating continuity of care across inpatient and community services to provide carers with a sense of security and predictability. Further research is needed to explore differences in experiences based on carer and service user characteristics and global context, alongside co-production with carers to develop and evaluate future guidelines and policies.
照料者的身心健康受到负面影响，这已得到充分证实。住院精神健康护理者的体验尤其负面，他们大多对自己和所照顾的人在住院护理期间的待遇表示不满。尽管有旨在改善住院体验的政策，但仍不清楚为什么会这样。为了了解照料者的需求，需要对他们的住院体验进行全面审查。因此，我们旨在对精神健康住院护理者的照料者体验进行系统评价和主题综合分析。
我们检索了 MEDLINE、PsycINFO、Embase 和 CINAHL，以查找评估精神健康住院护理者照料者体验的定性研究。通过对纳入研究的参考文献筛选和向前引用追踪对检索进行补充。使用主题综合分析法对结果进行综合。我们的方案在 PROSPERO（CRD42020197904）上进行了注册，我们的综述遵循系统评价和荟萃分析的首选报告项目（PRISMA）指南。
从 6 个国家纳入了 12 项研究。确定了 4 个主题：住院护理的情感历程；隐形专家；照料者对其亲人的护理质量的担忧；以及照料者、服务使用者和工作人员之间的关系和伙伴关系。
应更加关注确保照料者得到充分的支持、信息和包容。必须更加重视促进照料者、服务使用者和工作人员之间的积极关系，并促进住院和社区服务之间的连续性护理，以给照料者提供安全感和可预测性。需要进一步研究，以根据照料者和服务使用者的特征以及全球背景，探索体验差异，并与照料者共同制定和评估未来的指南和政策。
