A Study of Psychological Stress and Burden on Caregivers of Schizophrenic Patients

Abstract

Introduction: Schizophrenia is a chronic severe mental illness which not only affects patients but also causes significant burden and stress to the caregivers. There is definite lack of studies in India exploring caregiver burden and psychological stress. Study objective was to assess psychological stress and burden on caregivers of schizophrenic patients. Material and methods: The study sample included 52 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and their caregivers, randomly selected from the patients coming to the OPD of two tertiary care centres in Bareilly, as per inclusion and exclusion criteria. Burden Assessment Schedule and General health questionnaire-12 were used for the study. Results: Our study also shows that 42.31% caregivers experienced severe burden. Caregivers of patients with low levels of education reported greater burden. Parents and spouses reported moderately higher level of burden, but siblings reported highest level of burden. Parents had greater psychological stress as compared to spouses and siblings. Caregivers with higher psychological stress found to have heavier caregiving burden. Conclusion: Caregivers of schizophrenic patients suffered from significant burden. It thus becomes important to plan interventions that would reduce their burden of care and thus improving their psychological well-being.

Evaluation of burden felt by caregivers of patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

“…This may be because the schizophrenia patient group is younger in comparison to the bipolar group. This is in contradiction to previous studies[ 17 18 ] where no statistically significant difference between the sociodemographic variable of either group of patient or their caregivers was observed, while others found a statistically significant increase in the burden of caregivers with an increase in the age of elderly mentally ill patients,[ 3 19 20 ] which makes sense since the older patients need care for their physical health too, which adds up to the demands of the patient care.…”

“…In Kuchhal et al ., no significant difference was noted for the duration of illness and burden score. [ 18 ]…”

“…In this study, caregiver education was positively correlated with burden score in schizophrenia group which was statistically significant but not in bipolar group In Siddiqui and Khalid[ 23 ] and Kuchhal et al .,[ 18 ] authors noted less educated had more burden compared with caregivers with high education. Educated caregivers are able to understand the disease better and also can add to the compliance of the patient to treatment.…”

“…This is in contradiction with Kuchhal et al ., author noted parents having more burden than a spouse. [ 18 ] In Gupta et al . [ 20 ] and Jungbauer and Angermeyer[ 24 ] highest burden was felt by spouses.…”

Effect of Non-Disclosing Endorser Status in Social Media Marketing Content Toward Consumer Buying Behavior

“…Consumer protection dates back to 1962, US then-President John F. Kennedy gave a speech about the Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research, volume 130 basic consumer rights, which later became established as The Consumer Bill of Rights. One of the four basic consumer right is the right to be informed, regarding the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and price of goods so as to protect the consumer against unfair trade practices (Kuchhal & Kuchhal, 2014). The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development published the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection (UNGCP), bearing in mind that consumers should have the right of access to non-hazardous products, as well as the right to promote just, equitable and sustainable economic and social development and environmental protection (The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 2016).…”