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Abstract Background: Schizophrenia is a chronic mental illness that requires long-term treatment. Caring for someone with schizophrenia over a prolonged period can place a significant burden on caregivers who are taking care of a patient at home. Psychoeducational intervention may help improve caregivers’ outcomes. Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of psychoeducational program on burdens and coping patterns among family caregivers of schizophrenic patients. Design: A quasi-experimental design was utilized in this study. Setting: This study was conducted at outpatient clinics of El-abasia Mental Health Hospital, Cairo, Egypt. Subjects: A sample of fifty family caregivers of schizophrenic patients. The study tools were: 1) Interviewing Demographic Questionnaire of patients and their family caregivers, 2) Knowledge of Family Caregiver Toward Schizophrenia, 3) Zarit Caregiver Burden Scale (ZCBS) 4) Brief-Cope Inventory (BCI), and 5) Psychoeducational Program. Results: The results showed a highly significant statistical positive correlation between the studied caregivers’ total cope scale and total knowledge. Besides, there is a highly significant statistical negative correlation between the studied caregivers’ total knowledge and total burden and so between total burden and total cope scale. Conclusions: These findings indicate that the psychoeducational intervention program has a positive impact on reducing burdens and improving coping patterns among family caregivers of patients with schizophrenia. Recommendations: Further studies are needed to examine the effects of psycho-educational programs on family caregivers to other outcomes such as relapse rate, patient functioning, and medication compliance after hospital discharge. |