Families' experiences in psychiatric emergencies

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Mental Health Services Research
• Family Studies

Background:

• Psychiatric emergencies involving mentally ill relatives are often traumatic and complex for families.
• Existing emergency mental health services may not adequately address the needs of families or be perceived as credible by them.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore family experiences during psychiatric emergencies.
• To compare family and service provider attitudes toward emergency mental health services.
• To identify areas for improvement in emergency mental health care.

Main Methods:

• Interviews were conducted with sixty families who had experienced psychiatric emergencies with mentally ill relatives.
• Attitudes toward emergency services were compared between these families and twenty-six hospital-based emergency mental health service providers.

Main Results:

• Families described emergencies as complicated, traumatic, and involving prolonged contact with multiple agencies.
• Both families and service providers expressed low satisfaction with the emergency service system.
• Service providers were less likely than families to find family assessments of treatment needs credible.

Conclusions:

• Family perceptions of need during psychiatric emergencies are critical and should be validated.
• Current emergency mental health systems require significant development to become coordinated and family-sensitive.
• Improved collaboration and understanding between families and service providers are essential for effective emergency mental health care.