Psychoeducational therapy with families of paranoid schizophrenia patients.

Aim: The study aimed to measure the effectiveness of psychoeducational therapy on the burden of families of paranoid schizophrenia patients.

Methods: An experimental research design was used in this study with an equivalent control group using 84 random allocation samples at a mental hospital in Semarang. The study instrument was the Indonesian version of the care burden scale (CBS). The Mann-Whitney test was used for the data analysis.

Results: The findings obtained show the effectiveness of psychoeducational therapy on family burden in the experimental group as opposed to standard therapy in the control group (before: Z=-1.27; P=.092, and after: Z=-3.47; P=.002).

Conclusion: We conclude that family psychoeducational therapy, as given to the experiment group, can decrease the family burden for the family of a paranoid schizophrenia patient. The application of family psychoeducational therapy can serve as guidance for the psychiatric nurse in reducing the family burden in the care of patients with paranoid schizophrenia.