How does stigma and discrimation hinder recovery of patients with Essay

How does stigma and discrimation hinder recovery of patients with schizophrenia - Essay Example Research Method: Qualitative research will be done on this study and a thematic approach will be used as the study seeks to examine, investigate, locate and record patterns. A survey will be conducted. Sample: Non probability sampling method. A total of 60 sample units will be used, 40 being schizophrenic patients and 20 nurses or family members. Data collection: Interviews and focus groups will be used as tool of data collection. Data analysis: Data analysis will be conducted through SPSS software and the Burnard model of coding, which provides a model for data organisation. Findings and Result: Stigma and discrimination were observed to affect the schizophrenic patients through hindering recovery and even exacerbating the illness. Conclusion: Without the stigma and discrimination, schizophrenic people would recover fast and easily thus contributing to the society. The stigma and discrimination that follows a person after being diagnosed with schizophrenia is usually what leads them to an early grave. Schizophrenic patients have been misunderstood by many people for a long time How does Stigma and Discrimination hinder Recovery of Patients with Schizophrenia? Introduction Many individuals with mental illnesses such as schizophrenia have confirmed that the stigma they face from other people usually leads to more pain than the disease itself. Stigma reduces the patient’s self-esteem and denies them many social opportunities stigma. Stigma can be explained as the negative attitudes that people have towards others while discrimination is explained as unfair treatment of people due to their social grouping (Parle, 2012:2). Schizophrenia refers to a mental condition that extends over a long period of time, and causes numerous distinct psychological symptoms such as, hallucinations, delusions, and unusual behaviours (Sachdev and Keshavan, 2010:4). It is a psychotic condition where patients are incapable of discerning reality from their own thoughts and imagina tion (Chan and Sireling, 2010:107). The people suffering from this condition are pre-judged, therefore, finding it hard to maintain and sustain relationships, friendships and employment. Stereotype portrayed by the media have been blamed for the fear and ignorance about schizophrenic people (Bos, 2009:510). Background I came across a report at the beginning of the year, which suggested that out of every six workers in the United Kingdom, one usually suffers from a mental illness at a certain time in their career (Bevan, et al. 2013:5). With the country experiencing tough economic times recently, there was an upsurge in the number of working age people suffering from a variety of mental illnesses. A lot of attention was put on anxiety and depression but the health care sector seemed to forget about some extremely intense mental conditions like schizophrenia. It dawned on me that proper attention should be paid on schizophrenic patients and I decided to look at ways that a patient cou ld recover from such an illness. That was when I got the idea of investigating stigma and its effect on the recovery of schizophrenic patients came into mind. Research question formulation An excellent research question has to be accurate and precise. The research question formulated in this study is:In what ways does stigma and discrimination hind