Effectiveness of Psychoeducative Intervention on Quality of Life Among Caregivers of Patients with Schizophrenia: A Randomized Control Trial

ABSTRACT

Background: The caregiver, who is taking care of a patient with schizophrenia, needs to spend an extensive amount of time, energy, and money during the process of caregiving, which is the major root cause for the psychological strain and physical exhaustion. Objectives: The objectives were to evaluate the effectiveness of psychoeducative intervention on quality of life (QOL) and associate QOL with selected background variables among caregivers of patients with schizophrenia. Methods: Aquantitative research with evaluative approach was used. The research design adopted was randomized controlled trial. The study had two groups, a study group and a control group. Asample size of 150 (75 in each group) caregivers of patients with schizophrenia equally distributed to study and control groups were included. The World Health Organization QOL – BREF scale is used to assess the QOL among caregivers, in this study. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The repeated measures of analysis of variance computed for QOL scores for within the study group (F = 15.82, P = 0.001), control group (F = 5.06, P = 0.004), and between the study and control groups(F = 1.42, P = 0.02) were significant. The changes observed from pretest to posttest 1 were statistically significant. There was a significant association between QOL scores and selected background variables such as social support and medical expenses among caregivers in the control group. Conclusion: The present study concludes that psychoeducative intervention was found to be very effective in improving QOL among caregivers of patients with schizophrenia.