Effects of psychoeducation applied to caregivers of patients diagnosed with chronic mental disorder on caregivers' difficulties and psychosocial adaptations

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a psychoeducation program given to caregivers of patients with chronic mental disorder who were treated in a psychiatric clinic of a university hospital. Methods: A semi-experimental, control group pretest-post-test design was used for this study, which was conducted between June 2015 and April 2016 with 40 caregivers of patients who were diagnosed with chronic mental disorders. Data were collected using an introductory information form, the Caregiver Burden Scale (CBS) and the Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale Self-Report (PAIS-SR). An 8-session, semi-structured psychoeducation program was administered to the caregivers of the patients who were diagnosed with chronic mental disorders. In the analysis of the data, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, independent samples t-test, and paired samples-test were used. Results: In the experimental group, 60% of the caregivers were female, 50% were the parents of the patients, and 40% were literate and/or primary school graduates. The mean age of the study group caregivers was 53.60 +/- 10.63. The patients of the study group caregivers had been under their care for a mean of 13.84 +/- 11.88 years, had been being treated for a mean of 4.89 +/- 6.36 years, and had been hospitalized a mean of 3.85 +/- 2.37 times. There was no statistically significant difference between the pre- and post- psychoeducational CBS score averages in the experimental and control groups (p>0.05). There was also no statistically significant difference between the pretest and post-test PAIS-SR subscale scores of the experimental group (p>0.05). However, there were statistically significant differences between the mean pretest and post-test PAIS-SR subscale scores of the control group (p>0.05). Conclusion: Although it appeared that the psychoeducation did not significantly affect the caregivers' psychosocial adaptations to the disease or the perception of caregivers, the decrease in the psychosocial adjustment of the control group, especially in the "sexual relationship" and "extended family relationships" subscales, was not observed in the experimental group. This suggests that the provision of psychoeducation prevents this decrease.