Time geography

a model for psychiatric life charting?

SUNNQVIST, C. RN MSc
PERSSON, U. BA
LENNTORP, B. PhD
TRÄSKMAN-BENDZ, L. MD PhD

¹Research Nurse, Department of Clinical Sciences, Psychiatry, Lund University Hospital, Lund
²Research Assistant, Department of Clinical Sciences, Psychiatry, Lund University Hospital, Lund
⁴Professor, Department of Clinical Sciences, Psychiatry, Lund University Hospital, Lund
³Professor, Department of Human Geography, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

Correspondence: C. Sunnqvist Department of Clinical Sciences Psychiatry Kioskgatan 19 Lund University Hospital, S – 221 85 Lund Sweden E-mail: [email protected]

Accepted for publication: 16 January 2007

Journal of Psychiatric & Mental Health Nursing 14(3):p 250-257, May 2007.

Since many years, life charting has been used to describe the life course and life events of psychiatric patients. The aim of the present study was to describe and evaluate time geographic life charts of 11 former psychiatric patients in order to promote systematic descriptions of their life events over time. Information on all events which was gathered from the life charts was analysed by manifest content analysis and reduced to four categories: information received by asking only about moves, social capacity, predisposing life events and/or stressful as well as precipitating life events. Our findings showed that this kind of life charts offered a comprehensive and structured picture. They describe a detailed life situation from one time period to another, where geographical sites serve as anchors. The patients expressed satisfaction with this method of combining an interview with a time geographic life line.