Don´t set us aside! Experiences of families of people with BPD who have access to Brief admission: a phenomenological perspective

ABSTRACT

Aim

To highlight the experiences of family members of people with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and self-harming behaviour who have access to brief admission.

Methods

To understand the families lived experience a phenomenological lifeworld perspective was adopted to this study. Twelve in-depht interviews were performed in November and December 2021 with family members of people with BPD and self-harming behaviour who have accessed BA. The phenomenological life-world perspective guided the analysis.

Results

Families’ life-world was characterized by anxiety and constant protection of their loved one. They live with constant fear of how their loved ones are feeling and whether they will injure themselves. When access to BA was available this gave hope and provided conditions for families to maintain everyday routines and also enhanced relationships among family members. When families’ loved ones were denied BA, they felt betrayed which contributed to negative feelings towards the medical profession, and the families lost confidence in psychiatry.

Conclusion

By interviewing families of people with BPD and self-harming behaviour who had access to BA, it emerged they possess valuable knowledge. BA can be developed if the needs of families are taken into consideration, and if families are given the opportunity to share emotions and the high burden of responsibility with staff or families in similar situations. If health care staff gives family members a more central role in care and makes their shared life-world visible it could thereby hopefully increase well-being and benefits for the whole family.

KEYWORDS:

• Brief-admission
• experiences
• family
• health
• nursing
• phenomenology

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to the families who have participated in this study and who have been generous in contributing their knowledge and perspectives during the interviews. Also thanks to Språkservice Sverige AB for proofreading the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data available on request due to privacy/ethical restrictions.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.