Citation

Gurak K, Weisman de Mamani A. Fam. Process 2015; 56(2): 476-486.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Family Process Institute, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/famp.12188

PMID

26498273

Abstract

Expressed emotion (EE) is a family environmental construct that assesses how much criticism, hostility, and/or emotional over-involvement a family member expresses about a patient (Hooley, Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 2007, 3, 329). Having high levels of EE within the family environment has generally been associated with poorer patient outcomes for schizophrenia and a range of other disorders. Paradoxically, for African-American patients, high-EE may be associated with a better symptom course (Rosenfarb, Bellack, & Aziz, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 2006, 115, 112). However, this finding is in need of additional support and, if confirmed, clarification. In line with previous research, using a sample of 30 patients with schizophrenia and their primary caregivers, we hypothesized that having a caregiver classified as low-EE would be associated with greater patient symptom severity. We also aimed to better understand why this pattern may exist by examining the content of interviews taken from the Five-Minute Speech Sample.

RESULTS supported study hypotheses. In line with Rosenfarb et al. (2006), having a low-EE caregiver was associated with greater symptom severity in African-American patients. A content analysis uncovered some interesting patterns that may help elucidate this finding.

RESULTS of this study suggest that attempts to lower high-EE in African Americans may, in fact, be counterproductive.

Language: en