Coping mechanisms used by the families of mental health care users in Mahikeng sub-district, North West province

Families of the mental health care users (MHCUs) face different challenges in dealing with, supporting and caring for MHCUs on a daily basis. The divergent coping mechanisms that the family members use aim to lower the negative, psychological and emotional impact of the stress. These include: escape...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Health SA = SA Gesondheid Vol. 26; no. 3; pp. 1586 - e8
Main Authors:	Modise, Tshepang P, Mokgaola, Isaac O, Sehularo, Leepile A
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	South Africa African Online Scientific Information Systems (Pty) Ltd t/a AOSIS 2021 AOSIS (Pty) Ltd AOSIS
Subjects:	challenges of families of mental health care users Coping coping mechanisms Coronaviruses COVID-19 Data analysis Data collection Domestic relations Ethics families Families & family life Health care industry health care users Information management Mental disorders Mental health care Mental illness Mentally ill Original Research Psychiatric services Qualitative research Research design Research methodology Sampling techniques Stress (Psychology) Video teleconferencing South Africa health care users families challenges of families of mental health care users coping mechanisms mental disorders
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Summary:	Families of the mental health care users (MHCUs) face different challenges in dealing with, supporting and caring for MHCUs on a daily basis. The divergent coping mechanisms that the family members use aim to lower the negative, psychological and emotional impact of the stress. These include: escape, avoidance and denial. To explore, describe and contextualise coping mechanisms used by the families of MHCUs and to suggest recommendations for improving their coping mechanisms in Mahikeng sub-district, North West province (NWP), South Africa. The study was conducted in three community health centres in Mahikeng sub-district, NWP, South Africa. A qualitative-exploratory-descriptive and contextual research design was used. Non-probability convenience and purposive sampling techniques were used to select participants. WhatsApp video calls were used to collect data which were analysed following Creswell's six steps of qualitative data analysis. The study established three themes namely; challenges experienced by the family members, coping mechanism used by the family members, and suggestions for improvement in the coping mechanisms for the family members. The findings of this study show that the family members of MHCUs are faced with different challenges. Some of the coping mechanisms used by the family members are insufficient and require improvement to enable them to cope effectively. When the coping mechanisms of the family members of MHCUs are improved, their well-being and that of the MHCUs might improve significantly. The findings of this study provides information that may be used to improve the coping mechanisms of the families of MHCUs in the NWP, South Africa.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	1025-9848 2071-9736 2071-9736
DOI:	10.4102/hsag.v26i0.1586