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. 2021 Sep;42(5):356-362.
doi: 10.4082/kjfm.20.0098. Epub 2021 Sep 20.

Evaluating the Effect of Peer-Assisted Education on the Functioning in Family Caregivers of Patients with Schizophrenia: A Clinical Trial Study

Nahid Rajai  1 , Behnaz Lami  2 , Amir Hosein Pishgooie  3 , Hengameh Habibi  4 , Fatemeh Alavizerang  5
Affiliations

Evaluating the Effect of Peer-Assisted Education on the Functioning in Family Caregivers of Patients with Schizophrenia: A Clinical Trial Study

Nahid Rajai et al. Korean J Fam Med. 2021 Sep.

Abstract

Background: High levels burden of long-term care of patients with schizophrenia can disrupt the functioning of family caregivers. This study evaluated a peer-assisted education method on family caregivers' functioning of patients with schizophrenia.

Methods: In this randomized controlled trial, 64 family caregivers of schizophrenia patients in military hospitals of Tehran, Iran, were selected and randomly allocated to intervention and control groups, in 2018-2019. The peer-assisted education was performed in the experimental group for six 1-hour sessions and the family functioning was measured in both groups by the Family Assessment Device Scale. The data were analyzed by SPSS software ver. 16.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) and group differences at a level of P-value <0.05 were considered as significant.

Results: There was no significant differences between groups in the pre-intervention phase in all dimensions of family functioning (P>0.05). There were significant differences between intervention and control groups, in the post-intervention phase in mean problem-solving dimension (11.80 vs. 15.53, P=0.012) and in 2 weeks after intervention, in the dimensions of roles (21.71 vs. 23.43, P=0.015), affective involvement (19.03 vs. 21.59, P=0.017), behavior control (23.90 vs. 26.93, P=0.045), general functioning (27.15 vs. 31.40, P=0.013), and total family functioning (134.12 vs. 153.09, P=0.001).

Conclusion: The peer-assisted education significantly influenced the functioning of family caregivers of schizophrenic patients and can be recommended to improve the functioning of caregivers.

Keywords: Caregivers; Education; Family; Functioning; Peer; Schizophrenia.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Figure. 1.
Figure. 1.
The CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) flow diagram of study for family caregivers of intervention and control groups.
Figure. 2.
Figure. 2.
The comparison of total family functioning score of the two groups of intervention (peer-assisted education) and control, in three stages (pre-intervention, post-intervention, 2 weeks after intervention) of the study, based on repeated measures analysis of variance test result.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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