Die Ursachen der Schizophrenie aus der Sicht der Angehörigen

OBJECTIVE: In a former quantitative study on relatives' beliefs about the causes of functional psychoses a preference for psychosocial explanations was found. There were also indications of an inclination towards a multicausal concept. The aim of this study is to try to replicate these findings using semi-qualitative methods. In addition, we are interested in knowing to what extent the causal beliefs of relatives are similar to those of the patients. METHOD: Problem-centered interviews were conducted with 31 relatives of schizophrenic patients. A computer-assisted qualitative content analysis was carried out with the transcripts of the interviews. RESULTS: As in the previous study, relatives showed a strong propendency to endorse psychosocial explanations. However, among only one third a multicausal concept could be observed. The causal beliefs of relatives and patients were quite similar. DISCUSSION: The findings are discussed with reference to the concept of subjective illness theory and the concept of social representations.