The change of feelings among group participants in relation to their first group-session experience as relatives of psychotic in- patients

Abstract

This study was conducted with 98 relatives of psychotic in-patients. The goal was to evaluate the change in their feelings concerning group sessions held in the psychiatry department of Ankara Medical School for the family mem¬bers of the psychotic patients. The data was collected in a six months period. Each subject was given a questionnaire following his/her first group sesion. The questions were related to how they felt just prior to group, during the group and following the group. The subjects had to check the most suitable state for himself/herself, the choices being "fine/comfortable", "does not matter" and "anxious/under pressure". The relationship between the answers for three various stages of group-session was examined using Goodman and Kruskalfs Gamma and Spearman's correlation Coefficient. The changes found were statistically significant from baseline for some emotional states.