Impact of psychoeducational program on the quality of life of Patients with schizophrenia

Impaired quality of life is a grave, pervasive, and one of the most serious problems in the community care of patients with schizophrenia. Psycho educational programs that provide patient’s with information about the illness, it’s course and medical regimen, various coping strategies, problem solving and ways to minimize the patient’s chance of relapse may help patients to enhance their quality of life. Aim: the study aimed to assess the impact of psycho educational program on the quality of life of patients with schizophrenia. Design: this study followed a quasi-experimental design. Setting: it was carried out at ''Tanta Mental Health Hospital''. Subjects: the subjects of the study consisted of 50 patients with schizophrenia. They were selected according to specific criteria. Tools: two tools were used to collect data for the study: questionnaire sheet concerning knowledge about schizophrenia and life satisfaction and enjoyment scale. Each patient was interviewed individually using the study tools as pre-test. The educational program was implemented on small group basis. Each subgroup encompassed 5-8 patients and attending a total of 15 sessions. These sessions were scheduled as 3 sessions per week for duration of about 5 weeks. Each session was last for about an hour. Results: the main results revealed that a significant improvement in the patient's knowledge and quality of life after the application of a psycho educational program. Recommendation: the study recommended that, patients and their families should be continuously and regularly submitted to psycho educational program that involved knowledge about disease, medication, side effects and it's management, relapse prevention, and learning social skills