Does Expressed Emotion of Family Members of Persons with Schizophrenia prejudiced by their Attitude towards Mental Illness?

Abstract

Background: Expressed emotion is one of the factor related to relapse in schizophrenia as well as poor prognosis. Opinions are verbal expressions of attitudes in concrete situations. Opinion is backed by knowledge without knowledge we can't give opinion. Knowledge is something about knowing a fact of a particular thing. Some caregivers are able to carry out care giving tasks better than others because of their knowledge about the disease, their experience, level of involvement and skills. So, the present study made an attempt to find out whether expressed emotion by the family members' prejudiced opinion towards mental illness. Materials and Method: The present study was a cross-sectional hospital based study conducted at a outpatient department of a tertiary care teaching institute. Sixty family members of persons with schizophrenia were purposively. Attitude questionnaire and opinion about mental illness scale was administered to assess expressed emotion and opinion. Results: A significant negative correlation was found between opinion and expressed emotion, indicating higher the expressed emotion higher will be the negative opinion/attitude. Conclusion: Results indicated that outcome of schizophrenia could be better by imparting knowledge about illness.

Keywords: Attitude, opinion, mental illness, expressed emotion, schizophrenia