Flanagan D A
Mental Health Unit, North Manchester General Hospital, UK.
Br J Clin Psychol. 1998 Nov;37(4):431-9. doi: 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1998.tb01400.x.
To examine levels of expressed emotion (EE) and affective distress in relatives caring for severely brain-injured family members.
The study took the form of a retrospective, observational cross-sectional analysis.
Data on 28 relatives were reviewed. Each participant completed one affective health-related questionnaire (Leeds Scales for the Self-Assessment of Anxiety and Depression; Snaith, Bridge & Hamilton, 1976) and their EE was rated using the Camberwell Family Interview (CFI; Brown, Birley & Wing, 1972; Vaughn & Leff, 1976, modified for head-injury relatives. Participants were rated as either high or low EE. Comparative statistical analysis examined differences in affective distress between the two groups.
Of the 28 participants, 12 were rated high EE and 16 were rated low EE. Levels of anxiety were significantly higher among the high EE group, but levels of depression were not significantly different between the high and low EE groups. A significant correlation was found between EE and carer status, i.e. sole carers or family carers, with sole carers displaying significantly higher levels of EE than family carers. Multiple regression also revealed that carer status was most predictive of EE.
Discussion considers EE as a coping strategy. Further research into the predictive capability of EE as an indicator of affective distress in head-injury families is suggested.
研究照顾重度脑损伤家庭成员的亲属的情感表达（EE）水平及情感困扰情况。
本研究采用回顾性观察性横断面分析形式。
对28名亲属的数据进行了回顾。每位参与者完成一份与情感健康相关的问卷（利兹焦虑与抑郁自评量表；斯奈思、布里奇和汉密尔顿，1976年），并使用坎伯韦尔家庭访谈（CFI；布朗、伯利和温，1972年；沃恩和莱夫，1976年，针对头部受伤亲属进行了修改）对其EE进行评分。参与者被评为高EE或低EE。比较性统计分析检验了两组之间情感困扰的差异。
28名参与者中，12名被评为高EE，16名被评为低EE。高EE组的焦虑水平显著更高，但高EE组和低EE组的抑郁水平无显著差异。发现EE与照顾者身份（即唯一照顾者或家庭照顾者）之间存在显著相关性，唯一照顾者的EE水平显著高于家庭照顾者。多元回归还显示，照顾者身份最能预测EE。
讨论将EE视为一种应对策略。建议进一步研究EE作为头部受伤家庭情感困扰指标的预测能力。
