First-Episode Psychosis from the Perspective of Family Members.

The purpose of the current study was to explore family members' perceptions of the causes of first-episode psychosis (FEP). A qualitative study with 68 family members of patients with FEP was performed. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and submitted for thematic analysis. The attributions for FEP were: use of psychoactive substances as a trigger; influence of genetic and personal factors; exposure to stressful life events; and lack of previous health care and knowledge about psychotic symptoms. Knowledge of possible attributions for the onset of psychosis may be valuable in optimizing early identification of individuals with FEP. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 57(1), 34-42.].

Expressed emotion of family members and psychiatric relapses of patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. / Emoção expressa de familiares e recaídas psiquiátricas de pacientes com diagnóstico de esquizofrenia.

OBJECTIVE: Assess the relationship between psychiatric relapses of patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, the levels of expressed emotion among their relatives and related factors. METHOD: Prospective study carried out at a mental health outpatient clinic and two Psychosocial Care Centers, with patients and relatives responding to the Family Questionnaire - Brazilian Portuguese Version, a form containing socio-demographic and clinical variables and a structured script to assess relapses. A logistic regression model was used for the analysis. RESULTS: A total of 89 dyads participated in the study. Of the patients investigated, 31% presented relapses and, among the relatives, 68% presented elevated levels of expressed emotion. The relationship between expressed emotion and the relapses was not significant. The logistic regression analysis demonstrated that when there were a higher number of hospital admissions in the two years preceding the study, the chance of the patient relapsing in the 24-month period is 1.34. CONCLUSION: Expressed emotion was insufficient to predict relapses. Thus, a relapse should be understood as a multifactorial phenomenon. These results provide support for interventions and investigations on the multiple factors involved in the evolution of schizophrenia patients in follow-up at community-based health services.

Emoção expressa de familiares e recaídas psiquiátricas de pacientes com diagnóstico de esquizofrenia / Emoción expresada de familiares y recaídas de pacientes con diagnóstico de esquizofrenia / Expressed emotion of family members and psychiatric relapses of patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia

RESUMO Objetivo: Avaliar a relação entre recaídas psiquiátricas de pacientes com diagnóstico de esquizofrenia, níveis de emoção expressa de seus familiares e fatores relacionados. Método: Estudo prospectivo, realizado em um serviço ambulatorial de saúde mental e em dois Centros de Atenção Psicossocial, com pacientes e familiares que responderam ao Family Questionnaire − Versão Português do Brasil, um formulário contendo as variáveis sociodemográficas e clínicas e um roteiro estruturado para avaliação de recaídas. Para a análise, utilizou-se do modelo de regressão logística. Resultados: Participaram do estudo 89 díades. Dos pacientes investigados, 31% apresentaram recaídas, e 68% dos familiares, elevada emoção expressa. A relação entre a emoção expressa e as recaídas não foi significativa. A análise de regressão logística mostrou que quanto maior o número de internação nos 2 anos precedentes ao estudo, a chance de o paciente apresentar recaídas no período de 24 meses é de 1,34. Conclusão: A emoção expressa foi insuficiente para predizer recaídas. Assim, as recaídas devem ser compreendidas como um fenômeno multifatorial. Esses resultados fornecem subsídios para intervenções e investigações sobre os múltiplos fatores envolvidos na evolução do paciente com esquizofrenia, acompanhado em serviços de saúde mental de base comunitária.

RESUMEN Objetivo: Evaluar la relación entre recaídas psiquiátricas de pacientes con diagnóstico de esquizofrenia, niveles de emoción expresada de sus familiares y factores relacionados. Método: Estudio prospectivo, llevado a cabo en un servicio de ambulatorio de salud mental y en dos Centros de Atención Psicosocial, con pacientes y familiares que respondieron al Family Questionnaire − Versión Portugués de Brasil, un formulario conteniendo las variables sociodemográficas y clínicas y un guión estructurado para evaluación de recaídas. Para el análisis, se utilizó el modelo de regresión logística. Resultados: Participaron en el estudio 189 pares. De los pacientes investigados, el 31% presentaron recaídas, y el 68% de los familiares, elevada emoción expresada. La relación entre la emoción expresada y las recaídas no fue significativa. El análisis de regresión logística mostró que cuanto mayor el número de estancias hospitalarias en los dos años precedentes al estudio, la probabilidad de que el paciente presente recaídas en el período de 24 meses es de 1,34. Conclusión: La emoción expresada fue insuficiente para predecir recaídas. De esa manera, las recaídas deben comprenderse como un fenómeno multifactorial. Dichos resultados brindan subsidios para intervenciones e investigaciones acerca de los múltiples factores involucrados en la evolución del paciente con esquizofrenia, acompañado en servicios de salud mental de base comunitaria.

ABSTRACT Objective: Assess the relationship between psychiatric relapses of patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, the levels of expressed emotion among their relatives and related factors. Method: Prospective study carried out at a mental health outpatient clinic and two Psychosocial Care Centers, with patients and relatives responding to the Family Questionnaire - Brazilian Portuguese Version, a form containing socio-demographic and clinical variables and a structured script to assess relapses. A logistic regression model was used for the analysis. Results: A total of 89 dyads participated in the study. Of the patients investigated, 31% presented relapses and, among the relatives, 68% presented elevated levels of expressed emotion. The relationship between expressed emotion and the relapses was not significant. The logistic regression analysis demonstrated that when there were a higher number of hospital admissions in the two years preceding the study, the chance of the patient relapsing in the 24-month period is 1.34. Conclusion: Expressed emotion was insufficient to predict relapses. Thus, a relapse should be understood as a multifactorial phenomenon. These results provide support for interventions and investigations on the multiple factors involved in the evolution of schizophrenia patients in follow-up at community-based health services.

Emoção expressa e sobrecarga de familiares de pacientes no primeiro episódio psicótico e fatores relacionados / Expressed emotion and burden in relatives of patients in the first- episode psychosis and factors related

O primeiro episódio psicótico (PEP) é um período marcado por uma série de mudanças na dinâmica familiar. A família tem um papel importante no processo de tratamento desses pacientes. As atitudes dos membros familiares acerca do paciente são avaliadas por meio dos níveis de Emoção Expressa (EE) e de sobrecarga familiar. Apesar da importância do papel dos cuidadores, estudos conduzidos para avaliar as relações intrafamiliares de pacientes no PEP são escassos. Este estudo observacional teve como objetivo determinar os fatores relacionados aos níveis de EE e sobrecarga de familiares de pacientes no PEP. Participaram do estudo 100 familiares e 100 pacientes em acompanhamento em um ambulatório de um hospital universitário do interior do Estado de São Paulo, no período de janeiro de 2015 a janeiro de 2016. Para a coleta de dados foram utilizados quatro instrumentos: um formulário contendo dados sociodemográficos e clínicos, o Family Questionnaire - Versão Português do Brasil (FQ-VPB) para avaliar os níveis de EE e de seus domínios Comentários Críticos (CC) e Superenvolvimento Emocional (SEE), o Inventário de Sobrecarga do Cuidador (ISC) para medir os níveis de sobrecarga dos familiares e a Medida de Adesão aos Tratamentos (MAT) para avaliar a adesão ao tratamento. Os dados foram obtidos por meio de entrevista dirigida. Para análise utilizou-se estatística descritiva e regressão logística múltipla. O nível de significância adotado foi de 0,05. Quanto aos resultados, a maioria dos familiares (62%) foi classificada com elevado nível de EE, 63% com baixo nível de CC, 59% com elevado nível de SEE e 43% apresentaram nível moderado de sobrecarga familiar. Em relação à adesão ao tratamento, 84% dos pacientes foram considerados aderentes. Houve associação significante entre os níveis de EE, SEE e o sexo e escolaridade dos familiares, entre o vínculo com o paciente e os níveis de EE, SEE e CC, entre os níveis de sobrecarga e o diagnóstico médico e entre a idade do paciente e os níveis de CC. Além disso, houve associação significante entre os níveis de EE, SEE e CC e os níveis de sobrecarga. A análise do modelo multivariado mostrou que os anos de estudo do familiar foram considerados fatores de proteção para o desenvolvimento de níveis elevados de EE e SEE, enquanto os anos de estudo do paciente foram considerados fatores de proteção para sobrecarga moderada. Outro fator de proteção identificado foi o tipo de vínculo com o paciente, ou seja, ser pai, avós, sobrinhos, primos, tios ou colegas, representa fator de proteção para nível elevado de EE, CC e sobrecarga moderada, moderada a severa e severa. Por outro lado, familiares do sexo feminino apresentaram 4,81 vezes mais chance de apresentar nível elevado de SEE do que familiares do sexo masculino. Além disso, familiares de pacientes com diagnóstico de esquizofrenia tem 4,19 vezes mais chance de apresentar nível elevado de CC do que familiares de pacientes sem diagnóstico. Espera-se que esses resultados possam fornecer informações para elaboração de estratégias de prevenção e promoção em saúde mental que envolvam os pacientes no PEP e seus familiares

The first-episode psychosis (FEP) is a period marked by a series of changes in family dynamics. Family plays an important role in the treatment of these patients. The attitudes of family members about the patient are evaluated by the levels of Expressed Emotion (EE) and family burden. Despite the importance of the role of caregivers, conducted studies to assess the intra-family relationships of patients in the FEP are scarce. This observational study aimed to determine the factors related to EE levels and relatives to FEP patients overwhelmed. The study included 100 families and 100 patients followed up in a clinic of a university hospital in the state of São Paulo, from January 2015 to January 2016. For data collection were used four instruments: a form containing sociodemographic and clinical data; the Family Questionnaire - Brazil's Portuguese version (FQ-BPV) to measure the EE levels and its domains of Criticism and emotional overinvolvement (EOI); the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) to measure the overload levels of family members and the Measurement of Treatment Adherence (MTA) to evaluate adherence to treatment. The data were obtained by guided interview. For analysis, it was used descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression. The significance level was 0.05. As the results, most families (62%) were classified with high level of EE, 63% with low criticism, 59% with high level of EOI and 43% had moderate level of family burden. In relation to adherence to treatment, 84% of patients were considered adherent. There was a significant association between EE levels, EOI and the gender and education of family members, between the relationship with the patient and EE levels, EOI and criticism, between the burden levels and the medical diagnosis and between the age of the patient and criticism levels. In addition, there was a significant association between EE levels, EOI and criticism and burden levels. The analysis of the multivariate model showed that the years family study were considered protective factors for the development of high levels of EE and EOI, while the years of patient study were considered protective factors to moderate overwhelm. Another protection factor identified was the type of relationship with the patient. Having another relation with the patient, ie, being a father, grandparents, nephews, cousins, uncles or colleagues, is a protective factor for high level of EE, criticism and moderate overload, moderate to severe and severe. By contrast, female members of the family had 4.81 times more likely to have high level of EOI that those family members who were male. In addition, relatives of patients with schizophrenia has 4.19 times more likely to have high levels of criticism than relatives of patients who do not have diagnosis. It is expected that these results can provide information for developing prevention strategies and promotion on mental health involving patients in the FEP and their families