Caregiver’s quality of life and its positive impact on symptomatology and quality of life of patients with schizophrenia

Abstract

BackgroundAlthough the quality of life (QoL) experienced by patients with schizophrenia has been recognized, few studies have assessed the relationship between the caregivers’ QoL and patients’ QoL.MethodsThe study included 253 stabilized outpatients with schizophrenia and their caregivers from 3 Mental Health Services in Bolivia (N = 83), Chile (N = 85) and Peru (N = 85). Caregivers’ and patients’ QoL were respectively assessed using two specific QoL questionnaires (S-CGQoL and S-QoL 18). We collected socio-demographic information and clinical data. Multiple linear regressions were performed to determine which variables were associated with patient’s QoL. We tested the following hypothesis using structural equation modeling (SEM): caregivers’ QoL may have an indirect effect on patients’ QoL mediated by their influence of the severity of psychotic symptoms.ResultsIn the multivariate analysis, the caregivers’ QoL was not significantly associated with the patients’ QoL, except for one QoL dimension about relationship with family (Beta = 0.23). Among patients’ characteristics, being a woman and Aymara, having lower educational level, unemployment and severity of symptoms was significantly associated to a lower QoL. The SEM revealed a moderate significant association between caregivers’ QoL and psychotic symptoms severity (path coefficient = −0.32) and a significant association between psychotic symptoms severity and patients QoL (path coefficient = −0.40). The indirect effect of caregivers’ QoL on patients’ QoL was significant (mediated effect coefficient = 0.13).ConclusionImprovement of caregiver’s QoL may have a direct impact on the psychotic symptoms of patients and indirectly on patient’s QoL, confirming the need for ongoing family interventions in these regions.

Quality of life and its social determinants for patients with schizophrenia and family caregivers in Cambodia

“…Health-related QoL is defined as an individual's perception of their position in life, in the context of their culture and value systems, regarding their goals, expectations, standards, and concerns [31]. Caregivers face considerable burdens and challenges relating to their QoL when they support individuals with schizophrenia [32,33], so improvement in the caregiver's QoL has an impact on patient's psychotic symptoms and QoL [34]; thus, focusing on the QoL of family caregivers is crucial for evaluating the critical outcomes of community care.…”

Cognitive Deterioration and Quality of Life in Patients with Schizophrenia: A Single Institution Experience

“…Finally, Caqueo-Urízar et al presented a bidirectional association between the presence of a caregiver in the quality of life of schizophrenic patients, showing that good quality of life in the caregiver affects the patient positively and vice versa. The study also indicated that the involvement of the family in the patients' lives has a positive impact on their quality of life [8].…”

Calidad de vida en pacientes con esquizofrenia de origen Aymara en la zona Centro-Sur de los Andes

“…The hypothesis was that belonging to an ethnic group (i.e. Aymara vs Non-Aymara) was associated with QoL of schizophrenic patients, based on the results of previous analyses (Caqueo-Urízar et al, 2017a). In this last research, the aim of the study was thus to determine whether caregivers' QoL is a determinant of patients' QoL, while considering other important determinants such as sociodemographic and clinical characteristics.…”

“…On the contrary, a recent systematic review described that mental health interventions were associated with improved economic outcomes in lowincome and middle-income countries (Lund et al, 2011). Moreover, poverty worsens the health of patients with schizophrenia, and increases the burden of their caregivers (Butzlaff & Hooley, 1998;Caqueo-Urízar & Gutiérrez, 2006;Karanci, 1995), thus leading to poor QoL scores (Caqueo-Urízar et al, 2017a). This reinforces the need for comprehensive care and special attention should be paid to both objective and subjective quality of life indicators (Boyer et al, 2014).…”