Evaluation of the effectiveness of psychoeducation given to schizophrenia patients on an online platform and investigation of its effect on adaptation to illness/ treatment and comfort levels

In addition to psychopharmaceuticals in the treatment of schizophrenia, psychoeducation programs for patients or patients and their families are frequently used to increase patients' insight, ensure their adaptation to the disease, reduce the negative effects of the disease, and relieve the psychological burden of both the patient and the caregiver. In this study, the aim was to increase schizophrenia patients' adaptation to the disease and treatment, and to integrate the disease into their lives and increase their comfort levels with the psychoeducation program and psychoeducation booklet. Before and after the education, the participants filled out the sociodemographic information form, Schizophrenia Disease Information Form, Chronic Disease Adaptation Scale (CDAS), Medication Adherence Reporting Scale (DAS), and Short Form of General Comfort Scale (SSC-SF) and the necessary information was collected. The sample of the study consisted of 20 schizophrenia patients who were registered with the Community and Mental Health Center, had been hospitalized at least once due to schizophrenia, and volunteered to participate in the study. The psychoeducation program was conducted over six months via online platforms. The data were collected between June 2023 and January 2024. After the psychoeducation program, the rate of correct answers given by the patients to the Schizophrenia Knowledge Test increased. While the participants' CDAS pre-test score was 70.15±12.34, the post-test score was 86.95±10.91. The DAS pre- and post-test means did not change and were 20.6±3.2. The SSC-SF pre-test score was 101.4±18.08, while the post-test score was 115.5±16.18. All of these increases were found to be statistically significant and according to the obtained data, hypotheses H2 and H4 were proven, but H1 and H3 could not be fully answered. Keywords: Schizophrenia, adaptation, comfort, psychoeducation, nursing, online education