Inpatient Psychiatric Care: Families’ Expectations and Perceptions of Support Received From Health Professionals

PURPOSE The purpose of this paper was to identify challenges of families caring for loved ones prior to inpatient psychiatric care, understand families’ perceptions of support received from psychiatric health professionals, and identify ways for professionals to support families. CONCLUSIONS Families experienced many challenges prior to hospital admission. There was a large gap between families’ expectations and perceptions of actual support received by psychiatric health professionals. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS Nurses are well positioned to educate, advocate, and support overburdened families. Greater knowledge of families’ challenges would enable nurses to anticipate and meet their needs.