Development and Effectiveness of Emotional Intelligence Promotion Program for Schizophrenia

Purpose: The emotional problem of schizophrenia is an important factor that directly affects interpersonal relations and social behavior and can put them at risk of worsening symptoms and recurrence. This study attempted to develop an emotional intelligence promotion program for schizophrenia and verify its effectiveness based on Moon's emotional intelligence component and Leventhal and Cameron's self-regulation model.Methods: The design of this study is the experimental design before and after the non-equivalence control group. The participants were 32 patients with schizophrenia (experimental group:16, control group:16). There were 16 schizophrenias in the experimental group and 16 schizophrenia in the control group. The emotional intelligence promotion program was conducted in 12 session for 6 weeks. Collected data was analyzed with SPSS/WIN by using descriptive statistics, normality test, x2-test, Fisher's Exact test, paired t-test, Repeated measure ANOVA and Independent t-test.Results: There were statistically significant differences in emotional intelligence, interpersonal relations, and social behavior between the experimental group and the control group.Conclusion: Since the program developed in this study has been tested to improve emotional intelligence, interpersonal relations, and social behavior of schizophrenia, it is expected to be widely used in clinical and community practice.