TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2015//
TI  - Caregiver expressed emotion and psychiatric symptoms in African-Americans with schizophrenia: an attempt to understand the paradoxical relationship
JO  - Family Process
A1  - Gurak, Kayla
A1  - Weisman de Mamani, Amy
SP  - 476
EP  - 486
VL  - 56
IS  - 2
N2  - 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. <br><br>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. <br><br>RESULTS of this study suggest that attempts to lower high-EE in African Americans may, in fact, be counterproductive.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0014-7370
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/famp.12188
ID  - ref1
ER  -