Effects of Psychoeducation Given to Caregivers of People With a Diagnosis of Schizophrenia

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of psychoeducation given to caregivers of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia on their perceptions of burden and on clinical course of patients. This was a quasi-experimental study with pre-post tests and a control group and designed as a nonrandomized controlled intervention trial. While the patients in both the intervention and the control group received treatment as usual (TAU), only the caregivers in the study group were offered two sessions of psychoeducation a week for one month, with a total of eight sessions. Effectiveness of the psychoeducation given was evaluated by comparing scores of Perceived Family Burden Scale (PFBS) and Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) obtained before and three months after delivery between the intervention and the control groups. Mean PFBS burden scores of the control group at baseline and follow-up were 45.7 and 44.5, respectively. Mean PFBS burden scores of the intervention group were 45.2 at baseline and 38.6 at follow-up. Analysis of variance revealed significant and medium to large size interaction effects of time and group factors on total burden scores of family members (F = 5.59; p < 0.05; η = 0.09) and on total PANSS scores of patients (F = 104.78; p < 0.001; η = 0.64). Our findings suggest that psychoeducation offered to the caregivers along with TAU offered to patients might result in diminished perceptions of burden among caregivers and enhanced improvement in the clinical course of patients as a result of psychoeducation offered to caregivers.

The effectiveness of a psycho-educational nursing intervention on illness perception, knowledge and expressed emotion of caregivers of patients with first episode psychosis

“…This result is consistent with soliman et al [25] who found that psycho education was effective both in improving patients, medical condition and improving caregivers perception of illness resulting in reducing the family burden. Also supported with the findings of Bulut et al, [26] as they mentioned that psycho education leading to improve caregivers perception of illness.…”

The experiences of Turkish families caring for individuals with Schizophrenia: A qualitative inquiry

“…The results also showed that when the caregivers felt they were not able to cope with symptomatic behaviors in caregiving process, they become more critical/hostile (Akbulut, 2009). Moreover, psychoeducation is one of the effective ways to cope with burden (Bulut, Arslantaş, & Ferhan Dereboy, 2016). This study examines families’ position in caregiving process, and this is one of the first studies to approach the caregiving burden of families in a qualitative way.…”

Efectividad de una Intervención Psicoeducativa en la Reducción de la Sobrecarga del Cuidador Informal del Paciente con Esquizofrenia (EDUCA-III-OSA)

“…A pesar de estas limitaciones metodológicas, nuestros resultados coinciden con los encontrados en otros estudios previos que utilizan diseños con mayor validez interna (Bulut, Arslantas y Ferhan Dereboy, 2016;Chien, Chan y Thompson, 2006;Chien y Wong, 2007;Koolaee y Etemadi, 2010;Martin-Carrasco et al, 2016;Navidian et al, 2012) así como con los de varias revisiones sistemáticas y meta-análisis (Chen et al, 2016;Yesufu-Udechuku et al, 2015).…”