Family Psychoeducation as an Intervention Tool in the Management of Schizophrenia and the Psychological Wellbeing of Caregivers

Meenu Sharma; Shikha Srivastava; Abhijit Pathak

doi:10.4103/ijcm.IJCM_683_20

Family Psychoeducation as an Intervention Tool in the Management of Schizophrenia and the Psychological Wellbeing of Caregivers

Indian J Community Med. 2021 Apr-Jun;46(2):304-308. doi: 10.4103/ijcm.IJCM_683_20. Epub 2021 May 29.

Authors

Meenu Sharma¹, Shikha Srivastava², Abhijit Pathak³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Applied Psychology, School of Liberal Education, Galgotias University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India.
² School of Liberal Education, Galgotias University, Greater Noida, Uttar Prades, India.
³ Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, Odisha, India.

Abstract

Background: Caregivers need to be imparted with specialized skills to retain their psychological well-being and to manage the patient with schizophrenia effectively.

Aim: This study aims to understand the role of family psychoeducation (FPE) in the management of schizophrenia and the well-being of caregiver.

Materials and methods: The sample included 40 caregivers and patients, 20 each assigned randomly in treatment group (psychoeducation given) and the control group. Pre and post assessment of psychological wellbeing (PWB), symptoms of the patient, and emotional regulation was done through the scales mentioned in the study and analyzed through analysis of variance.

Results: Statistically significant improvement in emotional regulation of caregivers and patient (P = 0.05) and improvement of PWB in caregivers (P = 0.01) as well as significant reduction in symptoms of patients (P = 0.01) found in the treatment group.

Conclusion: FPE was found to be effective in improving PWB of caregivers and effective management of a patient with schizophrenia.

Keywords: Caregiver; psychoeducation; schizophrenia; wellbeing.