The Effect of Virtual Social Network Based Psycho-education on Resilience of Family Caregivers of Clients with Severe Mental Disorders

Psycho-education may positively impact the family caregivers of clients with severe mental disorders and promote in them such positive psychological states as resilience. The purpose of the present study is to examine the effect of virtual social network based psycho-education on resilience of the family caregivers of clients with severe mental disorders. The present research is a semi-experimental study in the form of a pre-test and two post-test with two control and test groups conducted in Iran Psychiatric Center in Tehran in 2017. 72 family caregivers of clients with severe mental disorders, with the age of 18 to 65, participated in the present study. To avoid the spread of the information, the control group was first studied and the test group was studied later. Sampling was conducted in a continuous and non-probable form. Data collection was conducted through demographic questionnaire and Conner-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-2003) before the study, immediately after the training, and 4 weeks after that. The virtual training (Psycho-education) was conducted through a telegram channel for four weeks. The data were analyzed by means of SPSS-24 software, and the independent T tests, couple T, and variances were analyzed by repetitive values. The results of the study of the demographic features of samples showed that both groups were homogeneous. Based on the independent T test, the results showed that the change average of resilience score in both test and control groups had meaningful difference statistically, and that the average increased in the test group (P<0.001). Also, the results of the couple T test showed that the changes in resilience score in the test group had a meaningful difference statistically, and that the changes in post-test stage were greater than the pre-test stage; they were greater in the second post-test compared to the first post-test and pre-test stages (P < 0.001). The results of this research showed that the virtual social network based psycho-education promotes the resilience of family caregivers of clients with severe mental disorders. Given the low cost of, and fast access to, social networks, the contents of this training plan can be widely utilized for family caregivers.