PERCEPTION OF SAFETY AND SECURITY OF FAMILY CAREGIVERS OF CLIENTS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS: A QUALITATIVE STUDY

Supporting family caregivers of clients with mental illness, in addition to feeling relaxed and safe, will have a qualitative and quantitative impact on the type of care provided to their patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate the safety and security of family caregivers of clients with mental illness.

In this qualitative study, 20 family caregivers of clients with mental illness and 29 service providers and policy-makers were selected through purposive sampling method and underwent semi-structured in-depth interviews. Data were analyzed inductively using conventional qualitative content analysis.

675 codes were obtained and classified in 7 sub-categories and the sub-categories were grouped in 3 main categories. The main categories included “Sense of physical security”, “sense of legal security”, and “sense of social security”.

The results indicated the challenging areas and important constituents of understanding the safety and security of family caregivers of clients with mental illness that require attention and consideration in social support development policies to support these family caregivers.