Perception of schizophrenic’s relatives about the disease

Abstract

Objective: To understand the perception of schizophrenic’s relatives about the disease. Methods: This is a descriptive, qualitative study performed with ten family members of people with medical diagnosis of schizophrenia treated by the Center for Psychosocial Care (CAPS) in a municipality of Ceará. Unstructured interview was used as a strategy to collect data. Data analysis was based on the method of content analysis proposed by Bardin (1997). Results: The identified categories were: identification of disease; treatment of schizophrenia; difficulties experienced by relatives; search for quality of life by people with schizophrenia. Conclusion: In the speech of schizophrenic’s relatives, gaps are perceived in knowledge concerning the diagnosis of the disease, which point at the importance of this aspect being clarified during the meetings between professionals, users and family members. However, other aspects of the disease, such as behavioral disorders and types of treatments, were mentioned by the study participants.