Effectiveness of family-focused psycho-education on expressed emotions among caregivers of persons with bipolar affective disorder: An interventional study

Abstract

Background: Expressed emotion (EE) is a significant characteristic of the family milieu that has been found to predict symptom relapse in bipolar affective disorder (BPAD). The need for family-focused psychosocial intervention in BPAD suitable to our culture is poorly understood. Therefore, this study was designed to discover the effectiveness of Barcelona family-focused group psycho-education on EE in BPAD. Aim: The aim of the present study is to assess the effectiveness of family-focused psycho-education on EE among caregivers of patients with BPAD. Materials and Methods: The interventional study included forty primary caregivers of patients diagnosed with BPAD. Caregivers were randomly allocated into five groups of eight each. BPAD was diagnosed by using the International Classification of Diseases-10, Classification of Mental and Behavioral Disorders, and Diagnostic Criteria for Research. The researcher had used the purposive sampling technique. Assessed EE by administering Family Attitude Scale (FAS) at pre- and postinterventional phases, family-focused group psycho-education module of Barcelona was adopted as an interventional method. Results: Totally 23 (57.5%) male and 17 (50.75%) female caregiver respondents participated in the study. The mean value of the overall pretest FAS score of total respondents was 94.33, critical comments = 43.75, hostility actions = 29.98, and distancing = 28.53. With EE dimensions, a greater difference in pre-intervention mean of 94.33±8.48 and a post-intervention value of 37.28±13.07 could be observed (t = 25.20, P = 0.001 and P< 0.05, respectively). Conclusion: Barcelona family-based psycho-educational intervention model is effective in reducing higher EE in families of patients with BPAD.

Keywords

• bipolar affective disorder
• caregiver
• expressed emotions
• family-focused psycho-education