THE PERCEIVED FAMILY BURDEN SCALE - MEASUREMENT AND VALIDATION

Findings in family burden research suggest that, in families with a me ntally ill relative, patterns of family interaction develop in respons e to the onset of major mental illness and result from the burden expe rienced by family members in coping with illness. The present study fo cused on instrument development and validation of the Perceived Family Burden Scale (PFBS), a measure of those patient behaviors associated with schizophrenia and the impact of these behaviors on relatives. The PFBS was found to be a valid and reliable instrument which demonstrat ed greater predictive power for early symptomatic relapse in schizophr enia than another measure of family interaction, expressed emotion.