Stress and its relationship to expressed emotion in community mental health workers

A small opportunistic study of Stress and Expressed Emotion was undertaken with community mental health workers, who were all case managers or keyworkers to clients with severe mental illness. It was hypothesised that a range of EE ratings would be found in staff, and that they would have high levels of burnout and stress. Job satisfaction was also measured. Ten staff were interviewed about 28 clients. Thirty nine percent of interviewees were rated as high EE (7/10 staff were high EE about at least one client), with low EE interviews showing significantly more warmth. Emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and GHQ levels were above norms for the general population, and were similar to those found in other inner city community teams, but were not related to EE levels. Nevertheless personal accomplishment and job satisfaction were high. High EE interviews were related to increased client symptomatology. Implications for long term community care are discussed.