RECIPROCITY OF EXPRESSED EMOTIONS IN THE TRIAD «MEDICAL SERVICE USER-FAMILY MEMBERS-HEALTHCARE STAFF»

Abstract

The paper aims to explore theoretically and empirically the reciprocity of expressed emotion (EE) in the interaction of medical service users with chronic gastrointestinal diseases, their relatives and healthcare staff. The key research question was whether the objective emotions expresses by relatives and healthcare staff coincided with subjective EE experienced by medical service users. The study applied methods of theoretical analysis, as well as measures, represented by scales and questionnaires for empirical research, including the Health-Related Quality of Life Questionnaire (EQ-5D-3L), the Level of Expressed Emotion Scale (LEE), the Family Attitude Scale (FAS), the perceived Expressed Emotion in Staff Scale (pEESS). According with the goal, the study aimed to solve the following research questions: Are there any correlations (as markers of EE reciprocity) between EE as the family's objective attitude to a diseased medical service user and the user's subjective experience of such family's and healthcare staff's attitude to him/her? Can the family attitudes towards a medical service user with chronic gastrointestinal diseases, the subjective experience of this attitude by the medical service user (perceived emotions expressed by the relatives), the user's subjective experience of the healthcare staff's EE and the user's health condition become predictors of disease-related quality of life? Are there any differences in health condition and disease-related quality of life according to the status of a family member (a partner/other relative)? The study results indicate that there were significant correlations between the perceived EE as a marker of subjective experiences of relatives' EE and objective family attitude towards medical service users. The findings also indicate correlations between family member's and healthcare staff's EE as it was perceived by medical service users. These results showed the reciprocal character of EE as a marker of a diseased individual's family environment. The results of the linear multiple regression showed that FAS as a marker of the family's attitude towards medical service users and users' health condition were significant predictors of life quality related to gastrointestinal diseases. There were significant differences between the objective family attitudes towards medical service users depending on caregivers' family status, in particular, FAS was higher in partners compared to other caregivers.