The thesis entitled ‘Relatives’ experiences of ‘last resort’ interventions for people with mental health difficulties’ explores how families experience the psychiatric hospitalisation of a relative and their treatment with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).
Section one presents a meta-synthesis of 14 qualitative studies considering how families experience the psychiatric hospitalisation of a relative. The synthesis yielded six key concepts. Four concepts described the process that relatives experienced during the hospitalisation: (1) Seeking help is frustrating and overwhelming; (2) Conflicting emotions on admission; (3) Navigating the hospital environment; and (4) Reconceptualising and coming to terms with altered circumstances. The final two concepts influenced, and were perpetuated by, relatives’ experiences: (5) The role of stigma; (6) Power, isolation and exclusion.
Section two presents a research study exploring how families experience their relatives’ treatment with ECT. Six participants were interviewed and the data analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Five overall themes were developed that capture participants’ experiences of supporting their relative through the ECT process: (1) You take the treatment because the alternative is just horrific; (2) Professional power silences resistance from relatives; (3) Moving from emotional responses to pragmatic reasoning; (4) Relatives’ struggle to find a role in the ECT process; and (5) ECT changes people and relationships.
Section three presents a critical appraisal of the research study, specifically focussing on the importance of researcher reflexivity in qualitative research.