SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW OF EXPRESSED EMOTION OF SIGNIFICANT OTHERS TOWARDS SERVICE USERS WITH CHRONIC PHYSICAL AND MENTAL CONDITIONS

Abstract

The aim of the study is a systematic review of publications on the problem of expressed emotionof the caregivers towards individuals with mental and physical conditions. The research methods are analysis, synthesis, generalization of scientific literature in the period 2018–2022.The study carried out the search using the keywords “expressed emotion”, “expressed emotion towards individualswith chronic conditions”, “caregivers’ expressed emotion”, “family members’ expressed emotion”, “healthcarestaff’s expressed emotion” using the databases Scopus, PsycINFO, ResearchGate, Web of Science, PubMed,IndMed. These bases were chosen due to the fact that they contain a great number of publications from the medicaland psychological fields. After searching for articles in these databases, the study focused on an additional searchwas in Reaerch4Life and Mendeley to ensure full coverage of relevant publications. The main inclusive criteriafor publications are: a) research period 2018–2022; b) developed evidence-based research methodology toexamine expressed emotion of significant others or healhtcare staff; c) dyads – persons with a chronic conditionand their relatives, partners or healthcare professionals – participated in the research; d) the cross-sectional designwith mixed or quantitative research methods, in particular, standardized methods of studying expressed emotionand obtaining reliable results; e) the subject of research is expressed emotion towards individuals with chronicconditions; f) articles are published in peer-reviewed journals, which are indexed in databases.The results of the study indicate that there is a tendency to assess expressed emotion rather towardsindividuals with physical conditions than towards individuals with mental disorders. There is also emergingresearch on the reciprocal nature of expressed emotion, the development of specific family interventions,and the importance of low levels of caregivers’ and health care staff’s expressed emotion to health-relatedquality of life in individuals with chronic conditions.An important conclusion is that, despite the existence of expressed emotion research on individuals withphysical diagnoses, there is still a gap of studies aligned with conditions that require significant support fromrelatives. Development of solid methodological foundations of research and assessing of expressed emotionof family members and healthcare staff towards gastrointestinal diseases is worth of our further research.