The effect of a brief family intervention on primary carer's functioning and their schizophrenic relatives levels of psychopathology in India

This study examined the short term effects of a brief familial intervention on schizophrenic the patient’s

levels of psychopathology and their primary caregiver’s functioning in India. Caregiver functioning was

measured by the caregiver’s levels of burden and coping along with the patient’s perceived level of

expressed emotion (EE). The participants were 18 schizophrenic patients and their related primary carer

from a medical facility in India. The patients’ levels of psychopathology and EE were assessed at baseline

and at completion of the study with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS; Kay et al., 1987)

and the Family Emotional Involvement And Criticism Scale (FEICS; Shields et al., 1992), respectively. The

primary caregiver’s levels of burden and coping were also measured at baseline and upon completion of

the study by the Burden Assessment Scale (BAS; Thara et al., 1998) and the Family Crisis Oriented

Personal Evaluation Scale (F-COPES; McCubbin et al., 1981), respectively. The brief intervention was

comprised of 3 one hour sessions aimed at educating the primary caregiver and patient about

schizophrenia; along with improving their communication, problem solving skills and expression of

emotions. A significant improvement was found between baseline and the final 3-month follow-up on

measures of psychopathology for the patients, as well as family functioning for both the caregivers and

patients. The implications of the findings are discussed, along with future research directions.