Howes Megan L, Ellison Diane
Occupational Therapy Department, Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK.
Br J Occup Ther. 2022 Apr;85(4):274-282. doi: 10.1177/03080226211018153. Epub 2021 May 18.
There is recognition within the literature that the role of care-giving can have a negative impact on care-givers' general well-being. Less is understood about the role of care-giving on an individual's occupational participation and in turn occupational identity. Occupational therapists have a unique understanding of the interplay between occupational participation and health, though this is an area that has been under researched in relation to mental health care-givers. Therefore, the current research aims to understand how the role of care-giving for an individual with a mental illness impacts on occupational participation and identity.
A qualitative semi-structured interview the Occupational Performance and History Interview-Version 2 was utilised to understand life experiences. Six mental health care-givers were interviewed, and these interviews were transcribed for thematic analysis.
Three main themes were identified: being me, roles and responsibilities associated with care-giving and services.
The findings suggest being a mental health care-giver does have a detrimental impact on occupational participation and therefore occupational identity. As care-givers gained more experience in their role, they used occupational adaption as a positive coping mechanism that helped them achieve occupational balance. Using their unique understanding of occupational participation and occupational identity, occupational therapists are well placed to utilise their knowledge and skills to work in a systemic way supporting both the person with mental illness and their care-giver.
文献中已认识到照顾者的角色可能会对照顾者的总体幸福感产生负面影响。对于照顾者角色对个体职业参与以及职业认同的影响，人们了解得较少。职业治疗师对职业参与和健康之间的相互作用有着独特的理解，尽管在精神卫生照顾者这一领域相关研究较少。因此，当前的研究旨在了解照顾患有精神疾病的个体这一角色如何影响职业参与和认同。
采用质性半结构式访谈——职业表现与历史访谈第二版来了解生活经历。对六位精神卫生照顾者进行了访谈，并对这些访谈内容进行转录以便进行主题分析。
确定了三个主要主题：做自己、与照顾和服务相关的角色及责任。
研究结果表明，作为精神卫生照顾者确实会对职业参与进而对职业认同产生不利影响。随着照顾者在其角色中积累更多经验，他们将职业适应作为一种积极的应对机制，这有助于他们实现职业平衡。凭借对职业参与和职业认同的独特理解，职业治疗师完全有能力运用他们的知识和技能，以系统的方式开展工作，为患有精神疾病的个体及其照顾者提供支持。
