M.Cur. (Nursing Science) / People play a major role in each other’s lives and this is because they rely on one another for survival. Many studies have been done on families and how they experience having persons challenged with mental illness but little has been done on couples and how they experience a relationship where one is challenged with mental illness or on the facilitation of the mental health of couples in a relationship where one is challenged with mental illness. The purpose of this study is to explore and describe the lived experience of couples in a relationship where one is challenged with mental illness in order to describe guidelines to facilitate the mental health of the couples. A qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual research design was utilised. The research was done in two phases. Phase one focused on an exploration of the lived experiences of couples in a relationship where one is challenged with mental illness. Phase two focused on guidelines to facilitate the mental health of the couples as a framework for the advanced psychiatric nurse practitioner. Purposive sampling was employed in selecting participants for the research study. The criteria were set out to be: couples in a relationship where one is challenged with mental illness with the willingness to participate and above the age of eighteen years. Phenomenological interviews were conducted and field notes gathered. Tesch’s method of data analysis was applied to analyse the data. Themes and categories were identified and a consensus was reached with the independent coder. Measures to ensure trustworthiness were considered and the criteria for ensuring rigour included truth value, applicability, consistency and neutrality. Ethical principles were also adhered to and those included: autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence and justice to protect the human participants. Findings have shown that both partners in a relationship where one is challenged with mental illness, experience challenges in the relationship. They experience the relationship as different to what it was before there was mental illness. The couples experience a change in their social roles, as the partner with mental illness cannot work, provide, or fulfil his or her role in the relationship. The partner without mental illness carries more responsibility than before because of the demands which the mental illness imposes in the relationship. There is also emotional upheaval experienced by both partners because being in the relationship for both of them is overwhelming. They also experience interpersonal distance linked to unhealthy relational patterns characterised by constant fights and drifting apart. The couples also experience a changed relationship with the self, and financial challenges as the mental illness cost them a great deal. The partners with mental illness experience rejection and feel undeserving of spousal support, whereas the partners without mental illness experience a burden due to the increased responsibility that they have to assume and that is both socioeconomic and household roles. Guidelines based on the findings as described by the couples were described in Chapter Four in order to facilitate the mental health of couples in a relationship where one is challenged with mental illness. Recommendations for mental health nursing practice, mental health nursing education and mental health nursing research were made. The study was evaluated and limitations were outlined.

published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences