Caregiver Expressed Emotion and Psychiatric Symptoms in African-Americans with Schizophrenia: An Attempt to Understand the Paradoxical Relationship.
Expressed emotion (EE) is a family environmental construct that assesses how much criticism, hostility, and/or emotional over-involvement a family member expresses about a patient (Hooley, Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 2007, 3, 329). Having high levels of EE within the family environment has generally been associated with poorer patient outcomes for schizophrenia and a range of other disorders. Paradoxically, for African-American patients, high-EE may be associated with a better symptom course (Rosenfarb, Bellack, & Aziz, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 2006, 115, 112). However, this finding is in need of additional support and, if confirmed, clarification. In line with previous research, using a sample of 30 patients with schizophrenia and their primary caregivers, we hypothesized that having a caregiver classified as low-EE would be associated with greater patient symptom severity. We also aimed to better understand why this pattern may exist by examining the content of interviews taken from the Five-Minute Speech Sample. Results supported study hypotheses. In line with Rosenfarb et al. (2006), having a low-EE caregiver was associated with greater symptom severity in African-American patients. A content analysis uncovered some interesting patterns that may help elucidate this finding. Results of this study suggest that attempts to lower high-EE in African Americans may, in fact, be counterproductive.
Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL.
Kayla
K
Gurak
Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL.
Amy
A
Weisman de Mamani
D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D003142:Communication; D019260:Expressed Emotion; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006791:Hostility; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000451:nursing; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D063189:Symptom Assessment
African Americans; Afroamericanos; Communication Patterns; Content Analysis; Expressed Emotion; Schizophrenia; análisis de contenidos; emoción expresada; esquizofrenia; patrones de comunicación; 交流模式; 内容分析; 精神分裂症; 表达情感; 非裔美国人