Perceived Factors and Social Support of Caregivers of the Schizophrenics in Relation to Medication Behavior of the Schizophrenics in Waeng District Narathiwat Province.

Abstract

The purpose of this research were threefold : 1) to study the bio-social factors, perceived factors, and social support which the caregivers of the schizophrenics obtained, and 2) to investigate whether the factors studied relate to the medication behavior of the caregivers of the schizophrenics, A total of 150 people who were the caregivers of the schizophrenics, selected by means of Purposive sampling method, were employed as the sample group of the study. The research instrument was a four-part-survey questionnaire. The first part of the questionnaire covered the questions about the bio-social factors of the respondents. The second part included the questions about the perceived factors involving the perceived severity of the disease of which reliability coefficient was found to be of .81 ; the perceived benefits of medication yielding the reliability coefficient of .78; the perceived susceptibility to Relapse giving the reliability coefficient of .89; and the perceived barriers of medication yielding the reliability coefficient of .82. The third part of the questionnaire covered the question about social support factors that the relatives of the patients received containing emotional social support yielding the reliability coefficient of .80; information social support giving the reliability coefficient of .83; instrumental social support having the reliability coefficient of .79; and access to service support giving the reliability coefficient of .78. The fourth part contained the questions about the patients’ behavior of medication yielding the reliability coefficient of .80, with the overall reliability coefficient of .87. Statistics used in data analysis were frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, and Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient (R). The research findings were as follows : 1. The medication behavior of the schizophrenics in Waeng District Narathiwat province was found to be performed at a moderate level. 2. The caregivers of the schizophrenics were found to have overall perceived factors at a high level while the social factors at a moderate level. 3. The factor affecting the medication behavior of the schizophrenics in Waeng District Narathiwat province at level .05 of significance included the student occupation, the perceived benefits of medication, the perceived severity of disease, emotional social support, and the access to service support.