PATIENT-FAMILY INTERACTIONS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA: THE RELATIONSHIP OF FAMILY-OF-ORIGIN AFFECTIVE CLIMATE AND NEGATIVE SYMPTOMS.
Contributors: University of California, San Francisco.
Published: 1989
Number of pages: 218
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Mental Health.
Description: This study was conducted in two stages with the following aims: (a) to examine the relationship of Expressed Emotion (EE) with negative symptoms and with positive symptoms in schizophrenia postdiagnosis (stage one); and (b) to explore the antecedents of family affective climate, negative symptoms, and positive symptoms prediagnosis (stage two).

The sample for stage one was composed of two distinct groups. One consisted of all patients (N = 62) who entered the Treatment Strategies in Schizophrenia (TSS) study at the San Francisco General Hospital site from August 1, 1985 to March 1, 1988. The second group consisted of the patient-identified principal family member (N = 62). A subset of the TSS sample comprised of patients (n = 20) and a family member (n = 16) was the sample for stage two.

Demographic statistics for both stages were similar: predominantly male, never married, young, and with a similar ethnic variation (Black, Filipino, Latino, and Caucasian). Negative symptoms were measured by the Scale for Assessment of Negative Symptoms, positive symptoms by the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, patient attitudes by the Social Adjustment Scale-II: Patient Version, family attitudes by the Social Adjustment Scale-II: Family Version, and EE by the Kreisman Patient Rejection Scale. A semistructured interview guide was used to elicit the remembered events of the patient's developmental trajectory which were considered salient by the patient and mother at four points in time.

A contextual regression was conducted for stage one data to explore the possible effect of family affective climate on patient symptoms after removing the contribution of individual characteristics. The results revealed no relationship in this sample between family attitude and patient negative symptoms nor between family attitude and patient positive symptoms. The only predictors of negative symptoms were age and social leisure. The only predictor of positive symptoms was attitude to chores. The following were the patient-generated descriptive categories of experiences reported in stage two: physical stressors, psychological stressors, peer pastimes, relocation, and cognitive delays. The pregnancy/infancy data revealed some complicated deliveries and some smaller-than-sibling birth-weights but no delay in passing developmental milestones.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-05, Section: B, page: 1852.

Thesis (D.N.S.)--UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO, 1989.

School code: 0034.