Relatives' experiences of brief admission in borderline personality disorder and self-harming behaviour

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study is to describe experiences of brief admission (BA) of people with borderline personality disorder and self-harming behaviour, from the perspective of their relatives.

Design: A descriptive qualitative design was chosen.

Methods: Twelve relatives of people with borderline personality disorder and self-harming behaviour who had access to BA were interviewed. Data were analysed with qualitative conventional content analysis.

Results: One overarching category: Hope for the future and three categories occurred: Breathing space, Personal responsibility and Structure. BA created hope for the future and the relatives appreciated that BA is a freer and easily accessible form of care that enables help at an early stage, compared with usual care. When BA functions, the structure and pre-determined days of care give relatives a breathing space, and the uncertainty diminishes for the children, as the parent can still be present during inpatient care. The lack of places was described as a disadvantage of BA.

Keywords: brief-admission; experiences; interviews; qualitative research; relatives.