精神障害者の家族の健康状態に関連する要因—精神科作業療法の新たな役割の検討

Health condition of families with mentally disturbed relatives : New roles of psychiatric occupational therapy

要旨：精神障害者の家族の健康状態と関連する要因を明らかにし，作業療法が担うことのできる新たな役割について検討することを目的に調査を行った．家族の健康状態は日本版精神健康調査票短縮版(GHQ-28)にて評価し，その結果と当事者および家族の生活状況との相関をみた．家族の健康状態との間に多くの有意な正の相関が認められたのは，当事者に幻覚や妄想などの症状があり病状が安定していないこと，家族が自分だけの時間を持てず自由に外出する機会がないことであった．この結果に基づき，作業療法は家族の健康状態の維持，改善のために，家族への直接的な支援と当事者を通した間接的な支援の2つの観点から家族支援を行うことができると考えた．

　The purpose of this study was to clarify the factors related to the health status of families living with mentally disturbed family members and to examine the new roles of psychiatric occupational therapy. The families' health status was evaluated using the Japanese version of the 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), and correlations with the GHQ-28 scores and the living condition of the mentally disturbed family members and their families were confirmed. Positive correlations between the GHQ scores and the living conditions of the families were found for the following: (1) hallucinations and delusions continued in mentally disturbed family members; (2) the mental state of the mentally disturbed family members remained unstable; and (3) the families had no personal time and could not go out freely. Based on these results, we think occupational therapy can provide support to the families from the two strategies of direct support and indirect support centering on the mentally disturbed family members for the maintenance and improvement of the families' health status.