Coping with schizophrenia: Patterns in later adulthood

By exploring the subjective experience of older people, this study investig ated whether the coping framework developed with younger adults with schizo phrenia could be applied to people with schizophrenia over the age of 50 ye ars. Fifteen participants diagnosed with schizophrenia, over the age of 50, were recruited from clubhouses and given a semi-structured interview to id entify what, if any, coping strategies were used to manage persistent sympt oms. The results indicated that the coping strategies used by this older sa mple were similar to those reported by earlier studies with younger populat ions. However, it was reported that the efficacy of the coping strategies h ad increased as the participants had grown older and accepted their illness , Older adults with schizophrenia are capable of employing strategies to ma nage their illness and should be considered an important source of knowledg e for younger individuals who struggle with the illness and for mental heal th professionals who work with the chronically mentally ill.