Post-traumatic growth: Health professionals as mothers of adult children with schizophrenia

Abstract

Worldwide, mothers provide lifelong care for their ill children. Our aim in this paper was to describe the development of post-traumatic growth in an international group of mothers. Interviews with a feminist storytelling approach were conducted with 13 health professionals who were mothers of adult children with schizophrenia. Using thematic analysis, we found they had experienced a complex traumatic process complicated by gender and health care’s dominant ruling relations. Over time, the women grew and became experts by experience due to their combined mothering and professional knowledges. Health professionals can play a central role and support their peers to care for family members with mental illnesses.