Tenth International Conference on Health, Wellness & Society

Abstract

This study constructed and pilot-tested a caregiver schizophrenia literacy questionnaire (NCMHSL-BQ) in a tertiary Philippine psychiatric hospital from May-June 2019. NCMHSL-BQ was developed from studies on seven countries and Southern California, composed of 48 items on different constructs. It was pilot-tested to 30 caregivers through ‘cognitive interviewing’ using ‘concurrent think-aloud’ technique. Ethics approval was granted by the University of the Philippines-Manila Research Ethics Board and NCMH Research Ethics Committee. Items were amended or removed based on a decision guide, like amendment if not clear/ambiguous and removal if too sensitive/not relevant. The mean age of the caregivers is 41.1(±12.3) years old, 2/3 are females, the majority are married and almost all reside in highly urbanized cities. A third are parents of the patient (father/mother). 23% and 13% are High School and College graduates, respectively. On average, pilot-testing took 19.7(±4.2) minutes. Out of 48 items, more than half were amended, 16 were removed, 7 were retained, and 20 items were added- resulting in a final 52-item questionnaire. Problems and deficiencies of NCMHSL-BQ were identified and addressed prior to the implementation of the full prospective cohort study - examining the relationship between caregiver SL and the frequency of readmission of their patients with Schizophrenia.