Role of Family Caregivers' Expressed Emotion on Recovery of Patients with Bipolar Disorders

Magdy, Maryam; Gemeay, Essmat Mohamed; Abd El- Ghafar Harfush, Souzan Abd Elmenem

doi:10.21608/tsnj.2025.434610

Role of Family Caregivers' Expressed Emotion on Recovery of Patients with Bipolar Disorders

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Demonstrator of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Tanta University.

² Professor of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Tanta University

³ Assistant Professor of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Tanta University

10.21608/tsnj.2025.434610

Abstract

Background: Bipolar disorder is a chronic condition that disturbs the patient's life and
family stability, making the work of caregivers more demanding and stressful. Family
caregivers are crucial to the support and rehabilitation of people with bipolar illnesses.
An expanding body of evidence indicates that expressed emotion (EE) significantly
influences the progression of bipolar disorder. Aim: assess the role of family caregivers’
expressed emotion on recovery of patients with bipolar disorders. Design: A descriptive
correlational design. Setting: The inpatient psychiatric department of Tanta University
Hospital. Subjects: A Convenience sampling of 110 family caregivers and their patients
diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Tools: Tool I: Part 1: Patient's and family caregivers
bio-sociodemographic data, Part 2: Level of Expressed Emotions scale. Tool II:
Recovery Assessment Scale Domains and Stages (RAS-DS). Results: The study found
that there was a statistically significant negative correlation between total expressed
emotion of family caregivers and total recovery of patients with bipolar disorders.
Conclusion: Enhancing family expressed emotion by reducing criticism, hostility toward
patients, over-involvement, and providing emotional support can improve
communication and interrelationship within the family leading to improved overall
recovery prospects. Recommendation: Family expressed emotion intervention
emphasizing the enhancement of communication patterns and caregiver attitudes toward
patients with bipolar disorder is necessary.