Burden of Care and Expressed Emotion in Spouses of Chronic Schizophrenic Patients

Expressed Emotion (EE) is one of the critical factors that has been implicated in the relapse of major psychiatric disorders. Less attention has been paid to the antecedent factors that contribute to EE in family members. The present study was designed to explore the role of Burden of Care and selected demographic and clinical variables in Expressed Emotion of spouses of chronic schizophrenic patients. Burden Assessment Schedule and Family Attitude Scale were administered on 40 spouses of chronic schizophrenic patients. The results revealed a significant correlation between Burden of care and expressed emotion. Medicine compliance and expressed emotion were also found to be significantly associated in male spouses. There is a need for addressing the burden of care not only for its direct relevance for the caregivers but also for mitigating the probability of relapse in major psychiatric disorders.