Predictors of family resilience among caregivers of individuals diagnosed with psychotic disorders: Perceived family cohesion, difficulties in emotion regulation, and caregiving burden

Objective: The primary aim of this study is to examine whether family resilience levels among caregivers of individuals diagnosed with psychotic disorders can be predicted by perceived family cohesion, difficulties in emotion regulation, and caregiving burden. Additionally, the study investigates whether caregivers' levels of family resilience differ based on certain sociodemographic variables. Methods: The study was conducted with 126 caregivers of individuals diagnosed with psychotic disorders across Turkey. Data collection began after obtaining permission from a private psychiatric hospital in Istanbul and was collected using face-to-face interviews using the Socio-Demographic Information Form, the Walsh Family Resilience Questionnaire, the Family Sense of Coherence Scale-Short Form, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Short Form, and the Zarit Caregiver Burden Scale. Data analysis was conducted through correlation and hierarchical regression techniques. Results: The findings show that, perceived family cohesion was positively and significantly associated with family resilience and was identified as the strongest predictor among the variables. Difficulties in emotion regulation and caregiving burden were found to have significant negative relationships with family resilience. Furthermore, while the relationship between family resilience and several socio-demographic characteristics was explored (e.g., education level, receiving support, income level), the analysis revealed no significant statistical differences. Conclusion: The results of the study demonstrate that family resilience is associated with both individual factors (such as emotion regulation skills) and environmental factors (such as family cohesion and caregiving burden). These findings highlight the importance of providing psychosocial support at the individual and familal levels in the caregiving process for individuals with psychotic disorders. Considering the lack of studies that examine all of these variables together in the literature, this research helps to fill that gap. Finally the results were interpreted in accordance with prior studies, and the study's limitations and recommendations for future research were presented.