RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: This preliminary study was carried out to develop the Family Burden Scale(FBS) of the schizophrenics. METHODS: Ninety-four items were collected by interviewing in a free unstructured format with one relative of each 200 schizophrenic patients and reviewing foreign FBS's. Several professionals and relatives were asked to group and integrate them into several categories. Finally 36 burden items were chosen to constitute a FBS. The FBS was administered to the relatives of 135 schizophrenic, 22 anxiety disorder, 26 dysthymic disorder and somatization disorder, and 49 dementia patients for examining the reliability and validity. RESULTS: The FBS showed high test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and discriminant validity. The results of the factor analysis revealed five-factor solution. CONCLUSION: The FBS can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of various programs intended not only to reduce decompensation among schizophrenics, but also to alleviate family burden.