[Level of expressed emotion, depression and caregiver burden in wives of veterans admitted in psychiatric ward and their relationship with readmissions]

ABSTRACT

The present study was planned to evaluate the level of expressed emotion [EE], depression and caregiver burden in wives of veterans admitted in Ibn-e-Sina psychiatric hospital and determine the relationship with number of readmissions in 6-month follow up. This cross-sectional study was performed on 50 veterans hospitalized in Ibn-e-Sina psychiatric hospital and their wives in 2008. Psychiatric disorders had been diagnosed based on semi structural clinical interview and DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria and the severity of illnesses was assessed with clinical global impression scale [CGI-S]. Beck depression inventory [BDI], family burden interview scale [FBIS] and the level of expressed emotion [LEE] tests were performed for wives. The number of readmission of veterans was assessed 6 months later. Data were analyzed by Pearson correlation, Mann-Whitney and ANOVA tests. It was shown that 42% of wives had mild depression, 26% had moderate depression and 8% had severe depression. Also 52% of them were suffering from severe caregiver burden and 14% had high EE. Veterans' average number of readmission in 6 months follow up was 1.6 +/- 1.28. The average of FBIS scores in wives was 31 +/- 10.49. There was no significant relationship between average of LEE [P=0.67], BDI [P=0.19] and FBIS [P=0.92] scores and LEE subsets in wives with the number of veterans' readmissions. The level of expressed emotion, depression and caregiver burden in wives are not related with the number of readmission in veterans admitted in psychiatric hospital in Iran