Dr. ZHOU Dehui, RuthRuthDr. ZHOU Dehui2024-04-182024-04-182019Zhou, D. (2019 Dec 11). Empowering primary family caregivers of people with schizophrenia in Hong Kong. 65th Anniversary Symposium on Mental Health, Charles K. Kao Auditorium, Hong Kong Science Park, Shatin, Hong Kong.http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11861/9495Family caregivers provide significant support to people with schizophrenia in their journey of recovery. A number of studies report the subjective and objective burdens carried by primary family caregivers, which affect their life quality and endanger their psychological well-being. This study compares the effectiveness of three group interventions in supporting primary family caregivers of schizophrenia outpatients in Hong Kong, namely a psychoeducation group, a narrative therapy group and an integrative group that aims at synthesizing the strength of the two. Altogether 116 caregivers joined the groups, with 89 participants having completed the intervention and 85 participants having completed the pre-, post and two-month follow up assessment. A questionnaire with various standardized psychometric scales, such as Experiences of Caregiving Inventory and Inner resource scale were administrated to the participants. The statistic results suggest unique strength of each intervention. Family relationship subscales including family cohesion, expressiveness and conflict, were found to be significantly improved in both the psychoeducational group and the integrative group. Three interventions all indicated significant improvements on total positive caregiver experiences. Both the narrative group and the integrative group showed better mental health, inner resource, and hope. This study was a pioneering study that empirically compared three intervention approaches for caregivers of people with schizophrenia. The research findings are referential for mental health professionals in selecting the existing intervention approaches or designing new intervention programmes to support the caregivers of people with schizophrenia and provide insights in empowering family caregivers.enConference Paper