Schizophrenia And Nursing Interventions: A Case Study

Schizophrenia and Nursing Interventions
Schizophrenia, a chronic and immobilizing condition defined as a psychiatric disease affects approximately 1% of the world’s population (Harris, Nagy & Vargaaxis, 2011). It is known to decrease the standard life expectancy by ten years due to its dire effects on morbidity and mortality, ranking it to be among the ‘top ten causes of disability adjusted life years” (Zigmond, Rowland & Coyle, 2015). The disease presents itself most commonly in young adults, and remains with them throughout the rest of their lifespan (Crisp, Taylor, Douglas & Rebeiro). An estimate of 5-6% of schizophrenia sufferers commit suicide, another 20% attempt suicide, which has been speculated to be the cause of lower life expectancy
As schizophrenia remains with the person during their entire lifespan, as the patients ages, the family of the patient should be willing to continue caring for them (Kumar, Suresha, Thirthalli, Arunachala & Gangadhar, 2015). Therefore providing education to the patient’s carers, family and friends is highly important through developing clear action plans in preparing them for any crisis that may occur in the future (Townsend, 2006). Schizophrenia not only impacts the patient suffering with it, but also the family. Harvey & O’Hanlon (2013) draws attention to how families of schizophrenic patients have increased anxiety, depression, social isolation and decreased QoL. Furthermore, it also mentions how 50% of Australian carers themselves also display psychiatric symptoms. Family therapy is found to be helpful in averting large amounts of stress and teaching families to recognise that the way they might want to assist their schizophrenic family member may not be the most helpful (World Health Organisation, 2004). Even though family therapy has been proven to be useful in helping families cope with a member of their family diagnosed with schizophrenia, it is not a nursing intervention that is regularly carried out and
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