The Effectiveness of Family Psychological Training Program Applied to Relatives of Patients with Schizophrenia

The aim of the study is to improve the family relations of the patients who suffer for schizophrenia, to ensure the participation of the family in the treatment, to improve treatment compliance and to reduce relapse.

A total of 80 caregivers of the patients, consisting of 40 people as a study group and 40 as a control group, the training was given in two sessions of forty five minutes twice a week, 24 sessions completed in approximately three months. It was applied in both groups at the beginning and end of the training the scales that are the test batteries.

While there was no difference between the two groups according to the pre-test scores obtained before the family psychological training program, according to the post-test scores, there was a significant difference between two groups in terms of symptoms of depression and anxiety, solutionoriented coping, emotion-oriented coping, dangerous perception of the disease and emotion expression.

The training programme thought that the family psychological training support to be given to the relatives of patients with schizophrenia will both contribute positively to the treatment and play an effective role in the adaptation of the caregivers' to the disease.