Abstract

RENCA, Pedro Filipe Nabais Neves; GOMES, Hélder Bruno da Fonseca; VASCONCELOS, António Pedro Pereira Fernandes de Almeida  and  CORREIA, Leonor Mata. Information program for the relief of anxiety in the families of psychiatric in-patients. Rev. Enf. Ref. [online]. 2010, vol.serIII, n.2, pp.91-100. ISSN 0874-0283.

The aim of this project was to evaluate the effect of an information program on anxiety in the family of patients admitted to a psychiatric unit for the first time. The present article is a report of a quantitative investigation: a quasi-experimental study with a control group and before and after evaluation. A non-probabilistic convenience sample was used, made up of the families of people having their first in-patient psychiatric treatment at DPSM Guarda. The data were collected using an instrument based on the Spielberger State Anxiety Inventory (Inventário de Ansiedade Estado de Spielberger), validated for the Portuguese population by Daniel (1996). It was found that anxiety in the experimental group decreased statistically significantly from 87,00 to 60,29 while in the control group it remained practically unaltered, from 83,88 at the first measurement to 82,50. In conclusion, after application of the structured guidance, anxiety levels in the families in relation to the psychiatric pathology of their relative and of what that pathology involved in relation to family equilibrium and imbalance decreased; in this way, the psychiatric pathology was accepted once it was demystified.

Keywords : psychiatry; family; anxiety; information.

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