This researcher is working in a mental health hospital, so there are relatively many opportunities to meet people with mental health problems. This researcher saw them spending most of their lives in the hospital. Therefore, the study started with the researcher's perspective on the patients' interest in life as a member of the community and the rehospitalization situation.
The issue addressed in this study is the experience of life in the community before hospitalization of readmitted patients with mental health problems. If proper management is not performed after discharge, the possibility of rehospitalization increases, and negative images are produced due to misunderstandings and prejudices about mental illness, making social adaptation difficult. This leads to worsening symptoms and the problem that the vicious cycle of hospitalization and discharge is repeated.
Most previous studies have taken a quantitative approach and have thus generalized the variables by analyzing them from an objective perspective; only a few studies have dealt with real life experiences. Each individual's daily life is distinct, and the activities they perform and experiences they feel, even if leading similar lives, are different, so they need to examine their daily lives as human beings with an open mind.
Therefore, the purpose of this study was to illuminate and explore the daily life of the readmitted patients from the perspective of the parties concerned.
The study participants experienced daily activities for more than eight months after discharge from the hospital, and an in-depth interview was conducted with eight patients with schizophrenia who had been readmitted. Interview data were transcribed and analyzed using the Giorgi phenomenological method. From the data, 265 semantic units were derived, compressed, and separated into 19 exposed themes. The revealed topics were organized into the following seven essential themes, taking into account mutual consistency.
"The weight of being alone in a social relationship," "A tree that I can lean on," "Ventilate your mood," "Freedom like the two-sidedness of coins," "My existence felt by belonging," "Inner conflict in everyday life," and "Willingness to live a good daily life." These were integrated into one main theme: "Willingness to live a better life by reducing the weight of being alone, feeling freedom, and creating a philosophy of value of one's own in this process's own in this process."
The findings will improve understanding of daily life of patients after discharge and provide a basis for practical measures to maintain it effectively.