Abstract
D.Cur. (Psychiatric Nursing Science)
Living with chronic mental illness in Namibia is a challenge. It often means a permanent fight against stigma and a daily struggle to make ends meet. The impact of living with the illness produces enormous subjective sufferings for the individuals, as well as untold psychological and financial burdens for many families.
Through the researcher‟s interactions with individuals living with chronic mental illness, it became clear that they are not adequately supported by relatives and other members of the communities in which they live. Sometimes they are deprived access to basic needs namely, shelter, medications, freedom of movement and of expression. There is an exaggerated fear of, as well as a negative attitude towards those living with mental illness. In the Northwest Health Directorate of Namibia, there are no community care facilities for individuals living with chronic mental illness. There are no alternative community aftercare modes for discharged individuals living with chronic mental illness. Post-discharge of the patient from the hospital, there are no follow-ups regarding the social circumstances they find themselves in. As a result, the home-care for someone living with chronic mental illness after hospitalization remains the sole responsibility of the relatives who rarely know how to look after the patient. On many occasions the public has been very ignorant about mental illness, resulting in them having a very negative attitude towards persons living with chronic mental illness.
The main purpose of this research was to explore and describe the lived experiences of individuals living with chronic mental illness, and the experience of the family members, community members, and health care workers dealing with individuals living with chronic mental illness. Thereafter, the researcher developed a mental health nursing model, which provides a theoretical frame of reference for the advanced psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner to facilitate constructive interactions through communicating, relating and sharing by discharged individuals living with chronic mental illness in Namibia...