Study Protocol: Intrafamily Communication on Mental Disorders (IFACOM)

<ns3:p>Our study deals with intra-family communication on mental disorders. We plan to develop a questionnaire, which can be used to measure the functionality of intra-family communication. Previous studies have shown that certain forms of communication in families affected by mental disorders impact the further course of the disease. Derogatory or taboo communication content are known to be disease-promoting, while open and positive communication has a preventive effect on the occurrence of further mental disorders. The functionality of communication therefore describes the potential of a health-promoting effect of intra-family communication styles. On the other hand, dysfunctional communication styles might be associated with a higher risk of the new emergence or recurrence of mental health problems in other family members. Following a systematic literature search on data containing information on intra-family communication patterns on mental disorders we plan to collect further data suing qualitative interviews (n=10). Interviewees include family members of individuals affected by mental disorders. We then plan to create a questionnaire with approximately 30 factors and items. This questionnaire will be tested in a large cohort of family members of individuals affected by mental disorders (n=300) and consequently validated by a confirmatory factor analysis. With the help of the planned questionnaire, risk factors of patients could be recognized earlier and taken into account for therapeutic interventions.</ns3:p>