Abstract

PINHO, Lara Manuela Guedes de  and  PEREIRA, Anabela Maria Sousa. Family intervention in schizophrenia: To reduce burden and expressed emotion. Revista Portuguesa de Enfermagem de Saúde Mental [online]. 2015, n.14, pp.15-23. ISSN 1647-2160.  https://doi.org/10.19131/rpesm.0101.

CONTEXT: Schizophrenia is a severe chronic mental illness that affects about 1% of the world population. OBJECTIVE: The implementation of a psycho-educational protocol with families of schizophrenic patients aiming to evaluate its effectiveness in reducing expressed emotion and family burden. METHODOLOGY: The study sample consisted of 20 family members (10 in the experimental group and 10 in the control group). Our study used the Family Problems Questionnaire - FPQ, applied before and after the intervention. The experimental group was subjected to a psycho-educational intervention, while the control group wasn’t subject to any intervention besides the treatment as usual.  RESULTS: The results indicated the existence of an objective and subjective overload, in both groups, before and after the program, which indicated a high family burden. Regarding the expressed emotion, before the program, although the results were not conclusive, there was a decrease in criticism and increase in the positive attitudes in the experimental group. The control group showed no significant changes. CONCLUSION: This results suggest that there are differences possibly attributable to the implemented program. Therefore, we can conclude that the implementation of a family psycho-educational program is effective as it potentially decreases family burden and expressed emotion. This study also has implications for clinical practice and to the family intervention aiming at health promotion and the wellness in this area.

Keywords : Schizophrenia; Family; Expressed emotion.

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