AIMS: This qualitative study aims at identifying and analysing the coping strategies adopted by the family caregivers in dealing with their mentally ill family members.
METHOD: A total of 15 family caregivers from the state of Kedah, Malaysia participated in the face-to-face semi structured interview.
RESULTS: The study findings identified an array of coping strategies used by the family caregivers, including religious coping, emotional coping, acceptance, becoming engaged in leisure activities, and the use of traditional healing to help them cope with their mentally ill members. Suggestions and conclusions: Study suggests that the family caregivers should engage themselves in social support groups to learn about and obtain the positive coping strategies used by other caregivers who have similar experiences in caring for the mentally ill. Study also suggests that they should get appropriate training from the mental health professionals in order to enhance the caregivers' coping skills.
OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study are as follows: (1) to assess advance care planning among older people and their perception of life and health, end of life, and end-of-life care; (2) to explore older people's accessibility and receptiveness toward counseling; (3) elucidate older people's perspectives on counseling and its impact on emotional management and decision-making; (4) to assess older people's competencies in emotional management; and (5) to propose an intervention model for enhancing older people's well-being and dignity through psychological counseling in Singapore.
METHODS: A mixed method study design involving quantitative and qualitative methods will be used. Older individuals receiving some form of preventive, primary, or long-term care in the community through voluntary welfare organizations from the senior activity centers located in eastern Singapore participated in the qualitative phase. Six older individuals from each senior activity center have been enrolled for the interview phase to explore 6 components: the Advanced Care Planning (ACP) booklet, Trait Meta Mood Scale (TMMS), accessibility and receptiveness toward counseling, and emotional management and decision-making. The ACP, an instrument designed to assess advanced care planning among older individuals, and the TMMS, an instrument developed to measure meta-mood experience and emotional management, were used in the quantitative phase among 100 participants. The data will be analyzed thematically using NVivo version 12, whereas descriptive statistics and a 2-tailed, 1-sample t test will be conducted in SPSS (version 25; IBM Corp) for empirical data analyses.
RESULTS: The qualitative phase, which involves a semistructured interview, has been completed among 20 older individuals aged 66-86 years. Thematic analysis of the data is still ongoing. Meanwhile, the quantitative phase commenced on March 22, 2022, with 100 participants providing signed informed consent to participate in the study. The study is expected to be completed by March 2023.
CONCLUSIONS: The mixed methods study will document the current awareness of ACP, accessibility and receptiveness toward counseling, and the potential use of psychological counseling in enhancing well-being and dignity among older people in Singapore. The research findings will benefit policy makers in their decision-making when attempting to mitigate the potential barriers to seeking counseling assistance among older people.
INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/45557.