초록 열기/닫기 버튼
Purpose: This study was conducted to answer the question of “what is it like for a Korean immigrant living with a serious mental illness?” Method: Interviews were conducted with eight seriously mentally ill Korean immigrants using broad, open-ended questions. Individual demographics and clinical information were also collected. Transcribed interview data were analyzed using a modified method of Giorgi's step of phenomenological analysis. Result: The findings revealed six major themes and relevant subthemes: 1) encountering a mental illness (being frightened, neglecting, and enduring); 2) adapting to a mental illness (realizing need for change, taking responsibilities for one's own self, accepting and compromising with reality, seeking and utilizing resources, adhering to treatments, maintaining hope, thinking positively, and immigrating to America); 3) facing obstacles (adverse treatment effects, stigma attached to a mental illness, lack of information, inability to use a community program, language barrier, and illegal immigration status); 4) failing to adapt (feeling powerless, feeling devalued, feeling deserted, experiencing limitations, and being socially isolated); surviving (having fewer symptoms, regaining self-confidence, meeting basic needs, and appreciating advantages of being in America); and 6) hoping for a normal life (feeling of loss and unrealized needs). Conclusion: This study contributed to the limited existing knowledge on seriously mentally ill immigrants' experience. It supported the need for comprehensive community programs and the need for more education about mental illness and treatment. This study also raised some methodological issues such as including invisible patients into the study. Future studies need to be conducted considering these methodological issues.
