Barriers to Caregiver preparedness from the perspective of family caregivers and healthcare providers of people with schizophrenia: A qualitative study

INTRODUCTION: Caring for people with schizophrenia is the most challenging condition for their families. Family caregivers encounter broad-spectrum problems by a lack of caregiving preparedness. Therefore, this study aims to identify the barriers to caregiving preparedness from the perspective of family caregivers and health-care providers of people with schizophrenia.
METHODS: Twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted by nine family caregivers and four health-care providers of people with schizophrenia selected by purposive sampling in Iran. After explaining our goals and obtaining permission, we recorded their voices, transcribed them for each session, analyzed them, and evaluated their trustworthiness.
RESULTS: The theme of “Barriers to caregiver preparedness” emerged from the data in three main categories: Encountering the crisis of the unknown, mental health inequalities in society, and role confusion.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: These findings highlighted the contextual factors that result in family caregivers’ unpreparedness. Identifying these factors can help the healthcare providers appraise the caregivers for later interventions and assist the health policymakers in overcoming these barriers.