The Effectiveness of Psychological Education Intervention on the Mental Health and Burden of Responsibility of Family Caregivers of the Psychiatric Patients

Family caregivers of patients with neurological and psychiatric disorders are prone to many physical and psychological problems during their care process. There are several ways to reduce the physical and psychological consequences in caregivers. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of psychological education on the responsibility and mental health of family caregivers of psychiatric patients in Lordegan, Iran.

In this quasi-experimental study, 60 psychiatric caregivers were randomly assigned to two groups of intervention and control. Two questionnaires were used to collect information: Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS) and Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI). Psychological training intervention in the intervention group was based on a group method and no intervention was performed in the control group. The training program was presented in 8 sessions and the collected data were analyzed using SPSS software.

After the intervention, the mean burden of responsibility and mental health in the intervention group had a significant decrease compared to before the intervention (P < 0.001); however, after the intervention, the mean burden of responsibility and mental health in the control group was not significantly different than before (P > 0.05).

The results of this study emphasize the usefulness of psychological educational intervention in reducing the burden of responsibility and mental health of family caregivers of psychiatric patients. Therefore, holding training courses in the field of psychology for the caregivers of psychiatric patients can empower caregivers in various psychological dimensions, including reducing the burden of responsibility and increasing mental health.