The effectiveness of mental health literacy promotion program on perceived stress and social health of family caregivers of chronic psychiatric patients in Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

BACKGROUND:The burden of caring for psychiatric patients leads to experiencing high levels of stress in family caregivers, which affects various aspects of their mental and social health. Evidence shows problems in this area, especially in terms of perceived stress and impaired social health, and thus, the need to implement relevant health promotion programs for chronic psychiatric patients. This study was conducted with the aim of investigating the effectiveness of the mental health literacy promotion program on the perceived stress and social health of family caregivers of chronic psychiatric patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS:This is a clinical trial study with a two-group pre-test-post-test design. Sixty family caregivers of chronic psychiatric patients were randomly divided into two intervention (30 people) and control (30 people) groups. Data collection was performed using demographic characteristics questionnaire, Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale, and Keyes Social Health Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance for between-group comparison of dependent variables. RESULTS:There was no significant difference between the mean scores of perceived stress and social health before the intervention (P > 0.05). The mean scores of perceived stress and social health in the intervention group were significantly better than the control group immediately and 1 month after the intervention (P value < 0.001). CONCLUSION:Considering the support of the findings of the present study to reduce the perceived stress and increase the social health of family caregivers of patients with chronic psychiatric disorders through the promotion of mental health literacy, it is suggested to reduce the problems caused by the burden of care such as stress, improve social interactions, and reduce perceived social stigma in family caregivers of psychiatric patients by using this program.