“It’s Not Important”—The Social Constructing of Poor Physical Health as ‘Normal’ among People with Schizophrenia: Integrated Findings from an Ethnographic Study

Birgitte Lerbæk (), Rikke Jørgensen and Andrea McCloughen
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Birgitte Lerbæk: Unit for Psychiatric Research, Psychiatry, Aalborg University Hospital, 9000 Aalborg, Denmark
Rikke Jørgensen: Unit for Psychiatric Research, Psychiatry, Aalborg University Hospital, 9000 Aalborg, Denmark
Andrea McCloughen: Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 12, 1-15

Abstract: People with schizophrenia have shortened life expectancy partly due to physical ill health. Management of coexisting mental and physical health issues is complex, and knowledge in the field is lacking. This study investigated how physical health was managed among people with schizophrenia, by integrating findings from three separate analyses conducted in an ethnographic study. Qualitative data generation methods were used; 505 h of field work were undertaken among nine participants with schizophrenia and 27 mental healthcare professionals were interviewed using a semi-structured interview approach. Three separate analyses were conducted using thematic and discourse analysis. Progressive focusing was used to integrate findings. Across the mental health care contexts that were part of this research, managing physical health was characterised by a lack of recognition of the seriousness of physical health issues as part of everyday life among people with schizophrenia. Poor physical health was accounted for as being “not of importance” by both mental health care professionals and the participants experiencing physical health issues. The integrated findings offer new insights about the social co-construction of poor physical health as something normal. At the individual level, this shared understanding by people with schizophrenia and healthcare professionals contributed to sustaining inexpedient management strategies of “modifying” behaviour or “retreating” from everyday life when physical health issues were experienced.

Keywords: ethnography; schizophrenia; self-management; social interaction; healthcare delivery; qualitative research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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