Sadath Anvar, Muralidhar D, Varambally Shivarama, Gangadhar B N, Jose Justin P
Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Kozhikode, Kerala 673 008, India.
Department of Psychiatric Social Work, National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro-Sciences, Bangalore, 560 029, India.
Asian J Psychiatr. 2017 Feb;25:163-168. doi: 10.1016/j.ajp.2016.10.023. Epub 2016 Nov 6.
Caring for a person with first episode psychosis (FEP) is a challenging and distressing task for the carers. The carers' stress in the early stage of psychosis can increase their expressed emotion (EE) while social support is hypothesized to decrease EE. However, the influence of stress and social support on carers' EE is not well understood in FEP.
To examine how the stress and social support shape expressed emotion in the carers of FEP.
Seventy one carers of the patients with non-affective FEP were recruited from the inpatient psychiatry ward of a tertiary mental health care center in South India. The family questionnaire, perceived stress scale and multidimensional scale of perceived social support were used to measure their EE, stress and social support respectively.
Carers experienced high level of perceived stress, EE and poor social support. Perceived stress significantly increased EE (β=0.834; p<0.001) and social support did not significantly influence EE (β=-0.065; p>0.05). Perceived stress predicted 76 percent of the variance on EE (Adjusted R=0.761).
The results emphasize high level of stress and EE in carers of patients with FEP that implies the need for appropriate psychosocial interventions to manage their stress.
照顾首次发作精神病（FEP）患者对照顾者来说是一项具有挑战性且令人痛苦的任务。精神病早期照顾者的压力会增加其情感表达（EE），而社会支持被认为会降低EE。然而，在FEP中，压力和社会支持对照顾者EE的影响尚未得到充分理解。
探讨压力和社会支持如何塑造FEP患者照顾者的情感表达。
从印度南部一家三级精神卫生保健中心的住院精神科病房招募了71名非情感性FEP患者的照顾者。分别使用家庭问卷、感知压力量表和感知社会支持多维量表来测量他们的EE、压力和社会支持。
照顾者经历了高水平的感知压力、EE和较差的社会支持。感知压力显著增加EE（β = 0.834；p < 0.001），而社会支持对EE没有显著影响（β = -0.065；p > 0.05）。感知压力预测了EE变异的76%（调整后R = 0.761）。
结果强调了FEP患者照顾者的高压力水平和EE，这意味着需要采取适当的心理社会干预措施来管理他们的压力。
