Family attitude toward the persons with negative symptoms of schizophrenia

Abstract

Background: Negative symptoms of schizophrenia not only lead to poor interpersonal relationship, impaired social and work functioning of the clients but it also affects family members in various aspects. The present study aimed to assess the attitudes of the primary caregivers toward the clients with negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at tertiary care hospital of Assam. Through purposive sampling technique, 40 primary caregivers of clients with negative symptoms of schizophrenia were selected from the indoor setting of a tertiary mental care institute. Self-structured sociodemographic and clinical Proforma, Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Scale for Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS), and Family Attitude Scale (FAS) were used to collect the data. Data were analyzed using the descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Majority of the participants (87.5%) score <60 in the FAS which showed low expressed emotion toward the clients with negative symptoms of schizophrenia. A significant negative correlation was found between the SANS score and monthly income of the clients (r = -'0.446, P = 0.004). Conclusion: Attitude of the primary caregivers toward the patient may vary based on the symptoms of schizophrenia. Assessing their attitude in the form of expressed emotion may help to understand their perception during the care of patients with negative symptoms of schizophrenia. This may help to plan suitable psychosocial nursing care for the primary caregivers.