Impact of Life Events on the Relapse of Schizophrenic Patients

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between of stressful life events at the time of relapse in schizophrenic patients at psychiatric hospitals in Baghdad city.Methodology: A purposive (non-probability) sampling of 50 schizophrenic patients who have relapsed was involved in the present study. Data were collected through the use of the constructed questionnaire and the process of the interview as means for data collection. The questionnaire was constructed by the researcher to achieve the objectives of the study, which consisted of two parts; the first one is concerned with the demographic and clinical characteristics; the second part consists of the Factors related to the patients exposure to the recent life events which include (17) items. Data were analyzed through the application of descriptive statistical analysis (Frequency, Percentage, Mean and Mean of Scores) and the relative sufficiency and inferential statistic (Multiple Logistic Regression).Results: The findings of the study indicated that there was a more than half of the patients had 30% chance of relapse related to the recent exposure to recent life events, and there was a significant relationship between the factors related to recent life events and the person responsible for the patients.Recommendations: The researcher recommends that patients and families should be educated about the particular and society about, accepting mentally ill as a member in the society, and dealing with stress and basic home care

Keywords: Schizophrenia, Relapses, Life events