Family Functioning in the Families of Psychiatric Patients: A Comparison with Nonclinical Families(cid:31)
Umaporn Trangkasombat MD*
Affiliation : (cid:31) This research was supported by the Ratchadapiseksompotch Fund from the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University * Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University
Objective : To examine family functioning in the families of psychiatric patients.
Materials and Methods : Families of psychiatric patients and nonclinical families were compared. There were
60 families in each group. The instrument included a semistructured interview of family functioning and the
Chulalongkorn Family Inventory (CFI), a self-report questionnaire designed to assess the perception of one’s
family.
Results : From the assessment by semistructured interview, 83.3% of psychiatric families and 45.0% of
nonclinical families were found to be dysfunctional in at least one dimension. The difference was statistically
significant (p < 0.001). The average number of dysfunctional dimensions in the psychiatric families was
significantly higher than in the nonclinical control group, 3.5 + 1.9 and 0.98 + 1.5 respectively, p < 0.0001.
The CFI scores of the psychiatric families were significantly lower than the control group, reflecting poor
family functioning. The dysfunctions were mostly in the following dimensions: problem-solving, communica-
tion, affective responsiveness, affective involvement, and behavior control. Psychiatric families faced more
psychosocial stressors and the average number of stressors was higher than the control families, 88.3% vs
56.7% and 4.2 + 2.7 vs 1.3 + 1.47 stressors respectively, p < 0.0001.
Conclusion : Family functioning of psychiatric patients was less healthy than the nonclinical control. The
present study underlined the significance of family assessment and family intervention in the comprehensive
care of psychiatric patients.
Keywords : Family functioning, Family assessment, Psychiatric patients
