The effect of psycho-educational intervention on the life quality of major depressive patients referred to hospitals affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Shiraz-Iran

Background: Depression is the world’s fourth most prevalent health problem which is associated with substantial mortality, direct medical cost, diminished life quality, and significant physical and psychosocial impairment. This study aimed to investigate the effect of psycho-educational intervention on the life quality of major depressive patients. Materials and Methods: Sixty patients who were willing and had met the required criteria for participation were selected from hospitals in Shiraz city, Iran. So 30 of the patients were assigned to the experimental group and 30 others to the control group. For data collection, a two part questionnaire was developed, the first part consists of 13 items related to general characteristics and the second part with 36 items on life quality were used. The experimental group was divided into five subgroups of 6 patients. For each group, six intervention sessions were scheduled. The control group did not receive the intervention. The questionnaires were completed for all subjects in the experimental and control groups before and 1 month after the end of psycho-educational intervention. Tabulated data were analyzed using chi-square, independent and pair T-test. Results: The results of the study indicated that psycho-educational intervention in comparison with other available treatments proved to be more effective on eight domains of life quality in the experimental group. A significant difference was observed for all the domains (P 0.001). Conclusion: Psycho-educational intervention can be used as an auxiliary treatment in improving life quality and decreasing depression in patients suffering from major depressive disorder.