McWilliams Stephen, Hill Shane, Mannion Nora, Kinsella Anthony, O'Callaghan Eadbhard
DETECT Early Intervention in Psychosis Service, Research, 1 Marine Terrace, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, Ireland.
Eur Psychiatry. 2007 Jul;22(5):323-7. doi: 10.1016/j.eurpsy.2006.10.009. Epub 2007 Apr 16.
Females care for individuals with chronic illness more commonly than males and have different attitudes to illness. Additionally, they experience greater burden and reduced quality of life, when compared to their male counterparts. Since knowledge has been shown to be related to burden, we sought to determine whether there were gender differences in knowledge acquisition during a six-week caregiver psychoeducation programme (CPP).
Caregivers of people with schizophrenia completed a 23-item adapted version of the self-report Family Questionnaire (FQ) before and after the six-week CPP. Using a Generalized Linear Mixed Model, we studied the differences in proportions of correct answers before and after the programme by gender.
Over a 46-month study period, 115 caregivers (58% female) participated in the programme. There was an overall improvement in knowledge with an effect size of 1.12. The improvement was statistically significant (P<0.001) within each of six specific areas of knowledge. However, female caregivers gained more knowledge overall and specifically regarding signs and symptoms, recovery and especially caregiver support. Knowledge gains regarding medication were roughly equal, while male caregivers gained more knowledge about risk factors.
Our findings indicate that there are gender differences in the amount and type of knowledge gained during a CPP, with female caregivers showing greater knowledge acquisition than their male counterparts in most areas. Interventions designed to assist caregivers may be improved by targeting areas of knowledge specific to each gender. Such an approach might further reduce burden and improve the outcome for their relatives affected by schizophrenia.
女性比男性更常照顾慢性病患者，且对疾病有不同的态度。此外，与男性照顾者相比，她们承受着更大的负担，生活质量也更低。由于已有研究表明知识与负担相关，我们试图确定在为期六周的照顾者心理教育项目（CPP）中，知识获取方面是否存在性别差异。
精神分裂症患者的照顾者在为期六周的CPP前后，完成了一份改编自自陈式家庭问卷（FQ）的23项问卷。我们使用广义线性混合模型，研究了项目前后按性别划分的正确答案比例差异。
在46个月的研究期间，115名照顾者（58%为女性）参与了该项目。知识水平总体有所提高，效应大小为1.12。在六个特定知识领域中的每一个领域，这种提高都具有统计学意义（P<0.001）。然而，女性照顾者总体上获得了更多知识，特别是在症状、康复以及照顾者支持方面。在药物知识方面的提高大致相当，而男性照顾者在风险因素方面获得了更多知识。
我们的研究结果表明，在CPP期间获得的知识量和类型存在性别差异，女性照顾者在大多数领域的知识获取比男性照顾者更多。针对每个性别的特定知识领域进行干预，可能会改进旨在帮助照顾者的干预措施。这种方法可能会进一步减轻负担，并改善其受精神分裂症影响亲属的结局。
