Expressed emotion in relatives of Chinese patients with first-episode psychosis in Hong Kong

F. Y. M. Mo, W. S. Chung, S. W. Wong, D. Y. Y. Chun, K. S. Wong

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the expressed emotion in a group of caregivers of young adults with first-episode psychosis. Participants and Methods: This cross-sectional study was done to examine the relationships between expressed emotion and the clinical characteristics of caregivers supporting patients attending a first-episode psychosis clinic in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The caregivers’ expressed emotions and the patients’ perceptions of those expressed emotions were evaluated using the Level of Expressed Emotion questionnaire. Expressed emotion profiles were correlated with psychiatric symptomatology according to the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. Results: One hundred and thirty nine caregiver-patient pairs completed and returned all the questionnaires. Higher caregiver-rated expressed emotion was associated with the caregiver being the father, unemployed and patients being of young age. The total Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale score was positively correlated with both the caregiver-rated (Spearman’s rho [r] = 0.28, p = 0.001) and patient-rated (r = 0.38, p < 0.001) total expressed emotion scores. Conclusions: Expressed emotion in the caregivers looking after young adults with psychosis was modulated by different clinical parameters. At an early stage of the illness, special attention should be paid to the caregiving experience of family members who play an instrumental role in the health care plan.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)38-44
Number of pages7
JournalHong Kong Journal of Psychiatry
Volume17
Issue number2
Publication statusPublished - 2007

Keywords

  • Chinese
  • caregivers
  • emotions
  • psychoses
  • young adults

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