Spousal Caregiver Burden and Its Relation with Disability in Schizophrenia

Abstract

Background: Schizophrenia, a chronic psychiatric disorder, can affect one's productivity and psychosocial functioning. In Indian context, the responsibility of caring persons with schizophrenia is increasingly on their spouses. Spousal caregiver experience and its relation with disability in schizophrenia need to be studied. Materials and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among 52 outpatients with schizophrenia and their spouses attending a tertiary psychiatric center. The objectives were: (a) to explore spousal caregiver burden in schizophrenia and (b) to assess the relation between disability and spousal caregiver burden. The study adopted recommended ethical principles. Scales such as Burden Assessment Schedule, Indian Disability Evaluation and Assessment Scale (IDEAS), and Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale were used to collect appropriate data. Descriptive analysis, bivariate analysis, and multivariate analysis were done in SPSS software version 16.0. Results: The mean spousal caregiver burden score was 73.5 (standard deviation: 14.0). In bivariate analysis, disability, duration of schizophrenia, severity of schizophrenia, place of residence, and socioeconomic status had statistically significant relation with spousal caregiver burden. Adjusted for spouses’ age, gender, and other significant factors in bivariate analysis, the IDEAS global disability score (2.6, [confidence interval 0.5–3.8, P = 0.013]) retained statistically significant association with spousal caregiver burden. Conclusion: Spouses of persons with schizophrenia experience significant caregiver burden. Disability was found to be the most powerful determinant of spousal caregiver burden in the sample. Focus on disability alleviation in the management of schizophrenia may help reduce spousal caregiver burden.

Disease-related stressors of caregiving burden among different types of family caregivers of persons with schizophrenia in rural China

“…Empirical evidence has indicated that caregiver–patient kinship is one of the important factors that should be considered when studying the burden of family caregivers who provide care to PwS (Alexander et al, 2016; Arun et al, 2018; Cirici Amell et al, 2018). Yet, it is still unclear how stressors differ among distinct kinship types.…”

“…It is obtained from the procedure of interaction between caregiver and care recipient, which is influenced by various elements related to the internal world and external surroundings (Kate, Grover, Kulhara, & Nehra, 2013). Therefore, the clinical features of schizophrenia have been well documented as predictors of caregiving burden, such as a longer duration of illness (Adeosun, 2013; Arun, Inbakamal, Tharyan, & Premkumar, 2018; Shamsaei, Cheraghi, & Bashirian, 2015), greater severity of disorganized symptoms (Papastavrou, Charalambous, Tsangari, & Karayiannis, 2010; Roick, Heider, Toumi, & Angermeyer, 2006; Shibre et al, 2003) and worse functioning status of PwS (Yazici, Karabulut, Yildiz, Inan, & Turgut, 2016). Compared with psychiatric diagnoses, the emergence of uncooperative or disturbed behaviors in severe mental illnesses was found to determine the caregiving burden to a greater degree (Ohaeri, 2001).…”

“…Some studies found that parents of patients were more likely to experience a higher level of burden (Cirici Amell, Cobo, Martí Castanyer, & Giménez Gómez, 2018; Hsiao & Tsai, 2014). Some studies found that being spouses of patients was a predictive factor of a heavier caregiving burden (Alexander et al, 2016; Arun et al, 2018). It was also found that patients’ children demonstrated a higher degree of caregiving burden than other relatives (e.g.…”

Perception of social support and psychotic symptoms among persons with schizophrenia: A strategy to lessen caregiver burden

“…On the other hand, the chronic, continuous and high relapsing features of schizophrenia greatly afflict not only the patients but also their families, especially when the patients relapse repeatedly and have frequent readmission to the hospital (Chan, 2011). Family caregivers were more likely to experience more burden when taking care of PwS with longer duration of illness (Adeosun, 2013; Arun, Inbakamal, Tharyan, & Premkumar, 2018; Shamsaei, Cheraghi, & Bashirian, 2015), greater severity of psychopathology or more disorganised symptoms (Kate, Grover, Kulhara, & Nehra, 2013; Papastavrou, Charalambous, Tsangari, & Karayiannis, 2010; Roick, Heider, Toumi, & Angermeyer, 2006; Shibre et al, 2003; Zhou et al, 2016) and severer degree of disability (Kumar, Suresha, Thirthalli, Arunachala, & Gangadhar, 2015; Ochoa et al, 2008). Caregiving burden remained high among family caregivers of PwS expressing lower level of social interest or interaction (Hanzawa et al, 2010) and having poorer quality of life (Hsiao & Tsai, 2014; Parabiaghi et al, 2007).…”

Family Burden of Schizophrenia in Pasung During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review

“…family dysfunction, social isolation, excessive use of health services, and financial problems) (Souza et al, 2017). The burden of schizophrenia care will be borne by the family, where it is not available in mental health services (Arun, Inbakamal, Tharyan, & Premkumar, 2018). During the COVID-19 pandemic, information about COVID-19 can worsen delusions, hallucinations, and irregular thinking that are usually experienced by schizophrenia patients (Hamada & Fan, 2020).…”