Effect of Psychosocial Nursing Intervention on Expressed Emotions and Responses to the Patient Illness among Family Caregivers of Patients with Bipolar Disorder

Background: Bipolar disorder is a lifelong illness that disrupts the patient's life and familial
equilibrium that makes the role of caregivers very demanding and distressing, especially when the
caregivers have not received enough information, and support. Expressed emotion (EE) refers to the
quality of the family environment reflected in the comments, attitudes and communication style that
can seriously affect the lives of patients and their families. Aim: This study aimed to investigate the
effect of psychosocial nursing intervention on expressed emotion and response to the patient illness
among family caregivers of patients with bipolar disorder. Research design: A quasi-experimental
designed on one group pre/post assessment was utilized on (40) family caregivers' of patients with
bipolar disorder, at outpatient clinics in Al- Abassia Mental Health Hospital. . Tools of data
collection: The data was collected using an Interviewing questionnaire to assess the Demographic
data of family caregivers and their patients with bipolar disorder, The expressed emotions scale EES
and Family Interview questionnaire. This questionnaire was applied before and after the
psychosocial nursing intervention. Results: The current study revealed that: there were highly
statistically significant differences between before and after application of the psychosocial nursing
intervention program regarding to family caregivers' level of expressed emotion and family care
givers response to the patient illness. Conclusion: The study concluded that, this reduction in
caregivers’ expressed emotions and enhancement caregivers’ response to patient illness justified the
research hypothesis and reflected the positive effect of the psychosocial nursing intervention
program. Recommendation: Development of psycho-educational supportive program for family
caregivers of patients with BD to reduce their levels of expressed emotion.