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Balancing Competing Needs: A Meta-Ethnography of Being a Partner to an Individual With a Mood Disorder
1Laura Foran Lewis, RN, PhD, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA lforanlewis@gmail.com.
Background:
More than 20% of individuals experience a mood disorder in their lifetime. Qualitative studies have explored the experience of being a partner to an individual with a mood disorder, but these studies remain isolated pieces of a larger puzzle.
Aims:
In this metasynthesis, I aimed to integrate current qualitative research to describe the experience of being a partner to an individual with a mood disorder.
Method:
A systematic search was conducted to identify qualitative research. Noblit and Hare's meta-ethnography was used to translate key metaphors from individual studies into a single set of metaphors to describe the experience.
Results:
Results indicated that these partners are disenfranchised caregivers balancing their own needs with partners' perceived and reported needs to strive for a stasis of guarded stability.
Conclusions:
Future research must explore ways to support these partners and include them in the health care team.
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