Assessment of Perceived Family Psychological Support among Depressed Patients in two Psychiatric Hospitals Kaduna State

Abstract

A family member experiencing mental illness or any other challenge usually finds the family as the first point of support. Family members supply the required psychological support and care for the affected family member.  This study assessed the perceived family psychological support among depressed patients in Psychiatric Hospitals, Kaduna State Nigeria.  The study adopted a descriptive cross sectional research design. One hundred and forty-four (144) depressed patients were randomly selected from Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital and Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital (FNPH) both in Kaduna State. Statistical package social sciences (SPSS) version 22, was used to analyse the data. The results showed that 40% of the 144 participants claimed to be psychologically supported by their families.  This means that less than half of the depressed patients under review, had high level of perceived psychological support from their family members. Females received more family psychological support than their male counterparts. Recovery rate, using the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS), was significantly correlated with the level of family members’ psychological support. It is therefore, recommended that more focus should be placed on enhancing more family psychological supports for depressed patients most especially in the areas of encouragement towards health education, religious and / or spiritual activities, brightening the moods of their patients, and  more moral support. Also, family focused psycho education should be provided to family members of depressed patients by the professional care givers.

Keywords: Psychological Support, Family, Care, Depression, Tertiary Hospital.