The Experience of Children with a Schizophrenic Parent -Case Study-

정신분열병 환자 자녀의 경험

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the experience of children with a schizophrenic parent. Methods: The research methods included biographical in-depth interviews, structured questionnaires, and child's drawings. Data were collected from September until November, 2005 at one university hospital, and interviews were recorded on audio tapes and thereby transcribed. The subjects were three adolescent children (10~15 years old) of a parent with schizophrenia. Results: This study has five themes: It is often the case that the children with a schizophrenic parent are uninformed about their parent's illness, have difficulties dealing with symptoms are confused about their parent's image and display contradictory feelings of fear and sympathy toward their father; The children tend to harbor expectations on mother's role in the family affairs, and simultaneously show pity for her; Family relations without solidarity caused by the absence of their father make the children feel severance, separation, and isolation in and out of the family; The children feel the burden to assume additional household responsibilities; The children are reluctant to mention their father's disease. Conclusion: the study subjects have met negativeness in both developmental characteristics and needs, which supports the need for intervention programs that meet their actual experience.