Abstract
Aim：This research aimed to clarify the sense of coherence (comprehensibility, manageability, meaningfulness) of family caregivers of persons with mental disorders living in the community.
Methods：Twenty-four family caregivers participated in this research. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and the descriptions of interviews were analyzed by content analysis.
Results & Conclusion：The “family members’ onset of mental disorders” was regarded as a painful experience in the caregivers’ lives. Caregivers’ manageability repeated ‘the trial and error’ in the progress of a time, and “the attitude for having feeling” of relationship and life with patients changed while receiving “support from the others”; these caregivers acquired “the strength to face the patients.” Concerning comprehensibility, at first caregivers comprehend that “the family member was a mental disorder.” And some caregivers felt that “there is no prospect of improvement in their lives” due to “the difficulty of predicting and understanding the circumstances.” For meaningfulness, the caregivers felt they “acquired significance or value” in their life due to caregiving. However, some of the caregivers had “the feeling of insufficiency of their lives or caregiving.” A “sense of mission” to continue the caregiving was an important strength.
