EXPRESSED EMOTION AND SELECTED PATIENTS’ CLINICAL FACTORS AMONG CAREGIVERS OF SCHIZOPHRENIC PATIENTS VISITING JIMMA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER PSYCHIATRY OUT PATIENT UNIT, SOUTH WEST ETHIOPIA

ABSTRACT Background Expressed emotion (EE) measures the emotion of the caregivers of persons with schizophrinia and is predictive of symptom levels in a range of medical and psychiatric conditions. It is worth to assess expressed emotion and associated factors among caregivers of patient with schizophrenia in Ethiopia since there is limited data on this issue in this part of the world. Objective To assess the status of expressed emotions and selecte patients’ clinical factors among care givers of patients with schizophrenia attending psychiatry oupatient unit of Jimma university medical center, South west, Ethiopia, 2019. Method A cross-sectional study design employed involving 422 caregivers of schizophrenic patients using consecutive sampling technique. Data was collected using structured interviewer administrated questionnaires (Family Questioners) which assess the level of expressed emotion, entered into Epidata 4.4 and analyzed by Statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 25. Descripitive statistics used to summerize data, bivariate logistic regression was done to identify candidate variables for multivariable logistic regressions and the association between expressed emotion and predictor variables was identified by using multiple logistic regression model. Results High expressed emotion was observed in 43.6% of respondents. Caring for schizophrenic patients for about 6-8 years, having 3-4 episodes of the illness was significantly associated with high expressed emotion. Conclusions This study revealed that there is high status of care givers expressed emotion compared to other studies. It also showed that number of episode of illnesses had significant association with high caregivers expressed emotion. Health care systems, which provide interventions for patients with schizophrenia, need to design proper strategy to address caregivers need as well.