Comparing quality of life therapy and a psychoeducational intervention on burden of family caregivers of patients with severe mental illness

Family caregivers of patients with severe mental disorders experience a great deal of psychological burden. Various interventions have been performed to reduce the psychological problems and psychological burden of caregivers. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of a psychoeducational intervention and quality of life therapy on the psychological burden of family caregivers of patients with severe mental illness.

This quasi-experimental study was performed on 150 family caregivers of severely mentally ill patients admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Zahedan, Iran, in 2020. Caregivers randomly were allocated in three groups: quality of life therapy intervention (50 people), psycho-education intervention (50 people) and control group (50 people). The quality of life therapy intervention group received 8 sessions and psycho-education group received four sessions training during two weeks each lasting for 90 minutes. The psychological burden of caregivers was assessed before and 4 weeks after the training through using the Zarit burden questionnaire. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 22 using paired t-test, independent t-test, chi-square and ANOVA.

The mean score of psychological burden of caregivers was significantly different between the three groups after the intervention (P = 0.002). Post hoc analysis showed that the mean score of psychological burden of caregivers in quality of life therapy group and psychological education was significantly different from the control group (P = 0.001). Also, the mean score of psychological burden of caregivers in quality of life therapy was significantly less than the score in psychological educational intervention group (P = 0.001).

Quality of life therapy was more effective in reducing the psychological burden of family caregivers of patients with severe mental disorders compared to psychological educational intervention.