The psychoeducation programme in HBUK
has been started since 2003. It is a structured
educational programme for patients with
schizophrenia and consists of five modules
covering five important subjects that are
understanding patient’s illness,
understanding patient’s treatment, relapse
prevention, crisis intervention and healthy
life-style. The psychoeducation programme
was conducted by trained paramedical (staff
nurses, medical assistants, physiotherapist)
using structured modules. The sessions were
conducted in a group of eight to twelve
patients. Patients were encouraged to
complete all the five modules prior to
discharge. The sessions were conducted in
the language understood by the patient.
Study Instruments
M.I.N.I is a short structured diagnostic
interview. Even though it has not been
validated in Malaysia, it has been used
widely in local studies. The 18-item BPRS
scale was used to access the severity of
symptoms. It generally found to have good
inter-rater reliability27. The main outcome
was measured using Schedule for the
assessment of insight3 which is an
interviewer-rated rating scale which has a
score from 0-14. It assesses: awareness that
one is suffering from an illness (0-6); ability
to re-label symptoms as signs of mental
illness (0-4); acceptance of treatment (0-4).
It has been widely used for clinical
researches involving patients with
schizophrenia including local studies.
Statistical Analysis
The relationship between parameters was
analyzed using appropriate statistical
analysis in Statistical Package for Social
Study (SPSS) version 16.0. The
improvements in Schedule of Assessment of
Insight (SAI) score was analysed using
Paired T test. The relationship between the
variables and improvement in SAI scores
were analysed using Independent T test.
Factors that were significant were further
analysed using multiple linear regression
analysis.
Result
Table 1 shows the sociodemographic factors
of patients. About two third of them were
male with majority Malays followed by
Chinese and Indian. Most patients with
schizophrenia were not married and attained
secondary level of education. Slightly more
than half were employed prior to admission
to the hospital.
Table 2 shows the clinical characteristics of
the patients. Majority of the patients had
their first onset of illness between during
their most productive years (age 20-30). The
mean duration of illness was more than 10
years with about two third of them had
history of recurrent admissions.
The mean pre-psychoeducation SAI scores
were 3.40 (s.d. 1.53) and the mean postpsychoeducation
SAI scores were 6.34 (s.d.
1.89). There was improvement in SAI score
post psychoeducation with the mean
improvement of 2.94 (s.d. 1.43). The
improvement in SAI score was statistically
significant (p