The Effect of Psycho-education Program on the Affiliate Stigma in the Caregivers of Clients with Bipolar Disorder

Abstract

Background Mental health experts believe that stigma is the most challenging issue for caregivers of clients with psychiatric disorders. Therefore, monitoring and assessing the affiliate stigma in the caregivers is necessary. This study is aimed to investigate the effect of psycho-education program on the affiliate stigma in the caregivers of clients with bipolar disorder. Materials and Methods This quasi-experimental study with both intervention and control groups was conducted Ghods Hospital in Sanandaj (n = 64). Psycho-education program was performed for the intervention group for 4 weeks (one session per week for 60 to 90 minutes). Data was collected using the Affiliate Stigma Scale before and after intervention (with 4 weeks gap). Results The results of study showed that there was no difference between intervention and control groups in terms of the distribution of contextual variables. The mean and the standard deviation of the affiliate stigma before the conducting the psycho-education program in the control group was (73 ± 14.72), and in the intervention group was (69.63 ± 14.66). After the intervention and administrating the post-test, the results in the control group was (74 ± 14.21) and in the intervention group was (35.06 ± 8.31) which showed a statistically significant difference (P < 0.001). Conclusions According to the obtained results in this study and based on the other studies’ result, the routine care is not able to meet the educational needs of the caregivers of clients with bipolar disorder. Psycho-education is effective on the reduction of the affiliate stigma of caregivers of clients with bipolar disorder and it can be considered as one of the stigmatization strategies.