Barriers against family-centered collaborative care in patients with chronic mental illnesses: A qualitative study

Introduction: Caregivers are patients’ family members or intimate friends who take care of individuals suffering from chronic mental illnesses without being paid. Evidence has supported the role of family-centered collaborative care in the treatment of patients with chronic mental illnesses. It has also been emphasized by national policies. However, carrying out this type of care is accompanied by challenges in iran.Aim: Considering the importance of family’s participation in taking care of these patients as well as the necessity to determine its effective factors, the present study aimed to assess the barriers against family-centered collaborative care in patients with chronic mental illnesses.Method: In this study, ۳۴ interviews were conducted with health staff, patients, and caregivers from ۳۰ December ۲۰۲۰ to ۲۵ August ۲۰۲۱, and the data were analyzed via conventional content analysis. Result: The results revealed five main categories and ۱۶ subcategories. The five main categories included familial factors as obstacles for collaborative care, stigma associated with mental disorders in the society, lack of appropriate psychosocial interventions, disease nature threatening collaborative care, and treatment factors against collaborative care. Discussion: There are many barriers against the provision of family-centered collaborative care for patients with chronic mental illnesses, which have to be taken into consideration in the health system and care planning. The findings presented the necessary components of family-centered collaborative care to be used by health managers and policymakers.Implications for clinical practice:The reported barriers emphasize the need for the developmentof structured approaches whose implementation is easy for HCPs, does not require a lot of time and resources, and will improve patient and family outcomes.

کلیدواژه ها:

Family-centered care ، Collaborative care ، Barriers ، Mental illnesses