Comparison of Dependence in Daily Life Activities, Quality of Life and Caregivers' Expressed Emotions in Schizophrenic Patients with and without Relapse

Background: Schizophrenia is a chronic, relapsing disease, characterized by adverse set of signs and symptoms that strongly affect the patient functional behaviors, quality of life, and quality of caregivers emotional responses. Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the differences between dependence in activities of daily life, quality of life (QOL), and  expressed emotion (EE) in schizophrenic patients with  and without relapse. Methods: A retrospective case-control design was utilized in this study. It included 120 schizophrenic patients and their caregivers divided into two groups. The group with relapse consisted of 60 schizophrenic patients with history of recent relapses and their caregivers and the group without relapse  included 60 patients. The tools used for data collection were interview questionnaire sheet, QOL scale for patients, and Camberwell family interview for caregivers. Results: the results revealed that there were statistically significant differences between the two groups of caregivers under study regarding their expressed emotions, relapse group had more problems related to work than non relapse, more relapse patients had  low QOL, compared to group without relapse.  Also, the QOL scores had a negative statistically significant correlation with the number of relapses. It is concluded that patients group with relapse have more dependence in activities of daily life, lower QOL, and their caregivers have higher expressed emotions. Conclusion: Thus, it is necessary to train caregivers of schizophrenic patients regarding expressed emotions and how to control them for the safe of better prognosis and lower susceptibility to relapse among their patients.