Socio-demography of schizophrenic patients Knowledge of caregivers on schizophrenia

58 Efective Implementation of a Structured Psychoeducation Programme among Caregivers of Schizophrenia Patients in the Community Table 2. Socio-demography of schizophrenic patients in intervention and control groups a Characteristic Intervention Group n=54 Control Group n=55 p-value b Age, years 41.5 SD=14.2

46.3 SD=11.8 0.060

c Gender Male Female 25 46.3 29 53.7 23 41.8 32 58.2 0.781 Ethnicity Malay Chinese Indian Others 25 46.3 12 22.2 8 14.8 9 16.7 31 56.4 17 30.9 6 10.9 1 1.8 0.340 0.418 0.747 0.019 Marital status Single Married Divorced Widowwidowed 33 61.1 17 31.5 1 1.9 3 5.6 34 61.8 16 29.1 1 1.8 4 7.3 0.904 0.950 0.484 0.980 Household income RM500 RM 500- RM 999 RM 1,000-RM 1,499 RM1,500 No response 7 13.0 11 20.4 4 7.4 1018.5 22 40.7 10 18.1 8 14.5 3 5.5 4 7.3 3054.5 0.626 0.583 0.980 0.142 0.211 Education level No formal education Primary Secondary above 6 11.1 15 27.8 33 61.1 6 10.9 13 23.6 36 65.5 0.785 0.783 0.786 Duration of illness 9 years 10-19 years 20 years 26 48.1 13 24.1 15 27.8 15 28.8 18 34.6 19 36.5 0.040 0.430 0.464 a Data are presented as number percentage. b All statistical analysis were performed using the Chi-square test. c Statistical analyses using the Independent samples T-test. 59 Efective Implementation of a Structured Psychoeducation Programme among Caregivers of Schizophrenia Patients in the Community Similarly, there was no significant improvement in their knowledge when comparing knowledge scores at 3-months and 6-months p=0.208. Table 4 details the overall percentage score of all caregivers for individual questions in the Knowledge Questionnaire Form. From the summarised percentage scores, the particular area of the illness of which patients did not answer correctly can therefore be identified.

4.4 Outcome of patients with schizophrenia

Patient outcomes were measured by the rate of readmission and default to follow- up Table 5. The readmission rate in the intervention group was lower compared to the control group, but the difference was not statistically significant 5.6 vs. 9.1, p=0.479. However, a significantly higher number of patients in the control group defaulted their follow-up 11.1 vs. 25.5, p=0.032. Table 3. Knowledge scores of caregivers on schizophrenia in intervention and control groups at baseline and 3 6 months audit a Mean Knowledge Scores of Intervention Group Baseline Post-Test P1 b 3 Months P2 c 6 Months P3 d 13.78 15.87 0.001 18.15 0.001 18.65 0.156 Mean Knowledge Scores of Control Group Baseline 3 Months P4 e 6 Months P5 f 13.47 14.33 0.083 14.93 0.208 a Statistical analyses using the paired samples T-test. b Comparison between baseline and immediate post-intervention. c Comparison between immediate and 3-months post-intervention. d Comparison between 3-months and 6-months post-intervention. e Comparison between baseline and 3-months audit. f Comparison between 3- and 6-months audit.