Intensive Home Treatment in Mental Health: A Qualitative Exploration of Carers' Experiences.
Alba González-Fernández, Ana Martín-Blanco, Francesc Casanovas and 5 others
PMID 42403172WHAT IT FOUND
Family carers during intensive home mental health treatment described exhaustion, disrupted routines and anxiety, but also closer relationships.
They wanted private time with professionals without the patient present to express doubts and distress.
Key findings
01Carers reported exhaustion, anxiety, sleep disturbance and irritability, and all but three of the thirty interviewed said their daily routines were disrupted.
02Many carers described positive meaning, including a stronger relationship and feeling useful, but only nine of thirty interviewed said they concealed the relative's condition because of stigma.
03Professional support during the home admission was useful, but many participants wanted an individual space alone with professionals to express doubts and discomfort.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The sample was convenience recruited from four IHT teams in Barcelona, so experiences may not transfer to other regions or teams. The focus group information sheet did not explicitly differentiate anonymity limits, and focus group participants knew each other. Participants were identified by clinical teams as primary caregivers, so the study may miss carers not recognised by staff. Interviewers were mental health professionals working in IHT, although not involved in the participants' relatives' treatment teams. Some accounts may have been influenced by the broader illness trajectory rather than only the IHT period. Ethnicity was not collected, limiting interpretation of cultural or religious coping.
Declared interests
The authors report no funding and no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these themes as evidence that intensive home treatment harms carers or that private carer conversations improve outcomes. This qualitative study reports what carers described, not measured effects.