The lived experience of everyday activity for individuals with severe mental illness
Engagement in everyday activity is an underplayed area when attempting to understand mental illness. Little is known about the everyday activities of individuals who experience severe mental illness and who are labelled hard to engage. This article reports on the findings of a longitudinal study. El...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/28492 |
| _version_ | 1848752551733755904 |
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| author | Milbourn, Ben McNamara, Beverley Buchanan, Angus |
| author_facet | Milbourn, Ben McNamara, Beverley Buchanan, Angus |
| author_sort | Milbourn, Ben |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Engagement in everyday activity is an underplayed area when attempting to understand mental illness. Little is known about the everyday activities of individuals who experience severe mental illness and who are labelled hard to engage. This article reports on the findings of a longitudinal study. Eleven individuals receiving community mental health services were interviewed over a 12-month period through one-to-one meetings using field notes and audio recordings. Phenomenological methodology was employed to explore the types of activities that constituted participants everyday lives and the meanings they attributed to them. Three themes emerged from the findings: illness identity; embodied crisis and managing supports; and boredom. The meanings of everyday activities were conveyed through self-narrative and often as a consequence of the provision of mental health care for the individual. When not receiving medication or attending groups, participants felt alone and bored, trapped in the mundaneness of the everyday. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:10:25Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-28492 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:10:25Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-284922017-09-13T15:20:01Z The lived experience of everyday activity for individuals with severe mental illness Milbourn, Ben McNamara, Beverley Buchanan, Angus Engagement in everyday activity is an underplayed area when attempting to understand mental illness. Little is known about the everyday activities of individuals who experience severe mental illness and who are labelled hard to engage. This article reports on the findings of a longitudinal study. Eleven individuals receiving community mental health services were interviewed over a 12-month period through one-to-one meetings using field notes and audio recordings. Phenomenological methodology was employed to explore the types of activities that constituted participants everyday lives and the meanings they attributed to them. Three themes emerged from the findings: illness identity; embodied crisis and managing supports; and boredom. The meanings of everyday activities were conveyed through self-narrative and often as a consequence of the provision of mental health care for the individual. When not receiving medication or attending groups, participants felt alone and bored, trapped in the mundaneness of the everyday. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/28492 10.1080/14461242.2015.1034747 restricted |
| spellingShingle | Milbourn, Ben McNamara, Beverley Buchanan, Angus The lived experience of everyday activity for individuals with severe mental illness |
| title | The lived experience of everyday activity for individuals with severe mental illness |
| title_full | The lived experience of everyday activity for individuals with severe mental illness |
| title_fullStr | The lived experience of everyday activity for individuals with severe mental illness |
| title_full_unstemmed | The lived experience of everyday activity for individuals with severe mental illness |
| title_short | The lived experience of everyday activity for individuals with severe mental illness |
| title_sort | lived experience of everyday activity for individuals with severe mental illness |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/28492 |