Coping with Personal Care and Stigma: Experiences of Persons Living with Schizophrenia

Abstract Schizophrenia has an impact on social functioning and participation in everyday life. Yet, there is little data on the experiences of coping with personal care and stigma among people living with schizophrenia in Ghana. This study sought to fill this gap using a qualitative exploratory study. A non-probability sampling procedure, specifically criterion sampling, was used to access a total of nine persons living with schizophrenia. Data were obtained from semi-structured interviews and subjected to Colaizzi's descriptive phenomenological data analysis approach. The study revealed that people with schizophrenia could adopt specific personal measures to take care of themselves. Some of these subjective measures included Activities of Daily Living such as washing, sweeping, maintenance of personal and environmental hygiene and medication administration. Strict adherence to treatment regimens has helped to take care of themselves so long as they were in their lucid interval. Despite the anxiety, stress, fear and sadness associated with stigmatisation, participants coped with stigma by resorting to strategies such as avoidance, denial and wishful thinking.