The effect of family nursing on the lived experience of children living with schizophrenic fathers

The purpose of this study was to explore by means of the phenomenological method the effect of family nursing on the experience of six adolescent offspring living with schizophrenic fathers. Data were collected by family intervention with low structured interview. Three themes of the lived experience of adolescents were identified: stalemate, coping and transcendence. The sub-dimensions of stalemate included encounter with "sick father" and unstable emotion, which resulted from the negative impacts of the father's illness. The sub-dimensions of coping included "sick father" or "my father", being with "sick father", trying to take care of "sick father", identification and differentiation, and the reformulation of "my father". These sub-dimensions emerged after family intervention and included coping in cognition, emotion, and behaviors. The sub-dimensions of transcendence included positive attitude toward psychiatric patients, caring for father's disease and medications, and family life restructuring. The findings from this study could help psychiatric mental health nurses to apply family interventions in order to gain a better understanding of the lived experience of children living with schizophrenic fathers and to enable them to cope positively with the father's disease.