Effectiveness of Psycho-Education intervention for Family Caregivers' of Schizophrenics on Their Burden, Coping and the Patients' Quality of Life

Abstract

Background: There is considerable evidence that family psycho-education when combined with pharmacological intervention for patients with schizophrenia increases family understanding of the illness, reduces burden of care& strength coping strategies and in turn enhance quality of their patients’ life and outcomes. Aim of the study: is to investigate effectiveness of psych education intervention for family caregivers of schizophrenics on their burden and coping process and their patients’ quality of life Design: An intervention quasi-experimental research design with pre-post assessment was utilized in this study. Setting: the study was conducted at the outpatient clinics of Gamal Abou ElAzayem psychiatric Hospital in 10^th of Ramadan city, Egypt. Subjects: 69 schizophrenic patients and their caregivers. Tools: The data were collected using an interview questionnaire forms that included 1) Socio-demographic characteristics for caregivers and their schizophrenic patients, 2) The Caregiver Burden Scale .3) The Coping Process Scale, and 4) The Lehman Quality of Life Interview Scale Results: The results showed that the caregivers of schizophrenic patients suffer considerable burdens with low QOL among their patients. Caregivers' burden and coping are more related to patients' personal and disease characteristics at the pre and post intervention phases. Conclusion: The implementation of the psycho educational intervention was effective in decreasing caregivers' burden, and in improving their problem-focused and emotion-focused coping which led to significant improvements in patients' QOL, Recommendation: The study recommends continuity of such psycho-education intervention on a long term basis to confirm its effectiveness along with providing mental health counselling, and developing support for family caregivers of schizophrenics.