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A Strategy to Identify de Novo Mutations in Common Disorders such as Autism and Schizophrenia
Published on: June 15, 2011
[Etiology of schizophrenia from the viewpoint of family]
A Holzinger1, P Müller, S Priebe
1Klinik und Poliklinik für Psychiatrie, Universität Leipzig.
Objective:
In a former quantitative study on relatives' beliefs about the causes of functional psychoses a preference for psychosocial explanations was found. There were also indications of an inclination towards a multicausal concept. The aim of this study is to try to replicate these findings using semi-qualitative methods. In addition, we are interested in knowing to what extent the causal beliefs of relatives are similar to those of the patients.
Method:
Problem-centered interviews were conducted with 31 relatives of schizophrenic patients. A computer-assisted qualitative content analysis was carried out with the transcripts of the interviews.
Results:
As in the previous study, relatives showed a strong propendency to endorse psychosocial explanations. However, among only one third a multicausal concept could be observed. The causal beliefs of relatives and patients were quite similar.
Discussion:
The findings are discussed with reference to the concept of subjective illness theory and the concept of social representations.
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