Objective To investigate the family burden of depression inpatients, analyze the influencing factors and explore the approach to reduce the family burden. Methods On-the-spot investigation was conducted for the family members of 200 depression inpatients in Mental Health Center of West China Hospital of Sichuan University from January to December, 2008. Following questionnaires used for investigation were all self-scale and filled out by the family members: “Basic Information Scale of Patients and Family Members”, “Family Burden Scale of Patients with Depression” revised from Pai’s scale of “Burden on the Family of Disease” (scoring 0-48 points and covering 24 items under 6 dimensions, namely, financial burden, disruption of routine family activities, disruption of family leisure, disruption of family interactions, effect on physical health of family members, and effect on mental health of family members; rating each item on a 3-class scale, namely, zero for no burden, one for moderate burden, and two for severe burden) , and Xiao Shuiyuan’s “Social Support Scale” (10 items in total, a higher score indicates a better social support). SPSS 13.0 software was adopted to perform statistical analyses. Results The total score of family burden was 26.3±12.6, the positive answer rate of family burden was 100.0%, and the positive answer rate of the every dimension was above 80%. The score of family burden for parents and spouse was higher than that of children (Plt;0.05). The total score of social support was 40.22±9.06, and the correlation coefficient between family burden and family social support was –0.485 (Plt;0.001). Conclusion It is common for family members of depression patients to get family burden at different levels. The more social support family members get, the less the family burden is.
ObjectiveTo explore the effects of drug management skill training on lightening the family burden of schizophrenic patients in their recovery period. MethodsBetween December 2011 and December 2013, 101 patients with schizophrenia were randomly divided into experimental group (n=56) and control group (n=45). The experimental group was given drug management skill training, while the control group only received routine follow-up. The course of the research was six months. Both groups were assessed by the positive and negative syndrome scale on patients' psychological symptoms, and family burden scale of diseases was used to assess the burden of the family. ResultsCompared with the controls, patients in the experimental group improved more in their positive symptoms (t=2.692, P=0.008), negative symptoms (t=2.729, P=0.008), general psychopathology symptoms (t=3.231, P=0.002) and the whole psychiatric symptoms (t=3.870, P<0.001). Moreover, the degree of patients' symptom improvement was positively correlated with the degree of family burden lightening (r=0.44, P<0.001). ConclusionFor patients with schizophrenia, reasonable drug management skill training can effectively improve patients' medication compliance, promote treatment effect and lighten family burden.