The experience of caring in relatives to patients with serious mental illness: gender differences, health and functioning

Abstract

The aims of the study were twofold. First, the study examined the extent to which there are gender differences in the experience of caring in a sample of relatives of patients with serious mental illness. Secondly, the study examined the association of self-reports of health and functioning with the experience of burden among relatives of patients with serious mental illness. A total of 50 relatives of 32 patients receiving psychiatric treatment for their bipolar or psychotic condition completed the Experience of Caregiving Inventory (ECI) and COOP-WONCA (a self-report measure of general state of health and functioning). The study revealed that female relatives had a higher score on eight of 10 ECI subscores, and in both ECI negative and ECI positive. Additionally, the study revealed significant correlations between a higher score on the COOP-WONCA feeling subscore and the following ECI subscores: stigma (r = 0.304, p < 0.05), problem with services (r = 0.348, p < 0.05), need to back up (r = 0.335, p < 0.05), loss (r = 0.293, p < 0.05) and the total ECI negative subscore (r = 0.343, p < 0.05). We also found a significant correlation between a higher score on the overall health subscore (COOP-WONCA) and a higher score on problems with services (r = 0.290, p < 0.05). Gender was the strongest predictor of the ECI negative subscore. Neither the COOP-WONCA subscore physical health, daily activities or social activities correlated significantly with any of the ECI subscores. Our results showed strong associations between poor mental well-being and caregiver burden. We also found a higher association with gender and the feelings subscore (COOP-WONCA) on ECI negative than we had expected.

Development and Validity of the Family Stigma in Alzheimer's Disease Scale (FS-ADS)

“…Finally, to assess internal reliability, Cronbach's a coefficients were calculated for the subscales. 21 Construct validity, or the degree to which the scale assesses the concept it purports to measure, was evaluated by calculating Pearson correlation coefficients for scores from the FS-ADS and scores from instruments reported in the literature to be associated with family stigma, such as caregivers' burden in the area of mental illnesses 22,23 and the severity of the disease in the area of AD. 24 Data were analyzed with SPSS version 15.…”

Valoración del estado de salud y psicopatología de los familiares en el trastorno del comportamiento alimentario : diferencias entre cuidadores principales y secundarios

“…Se solicitó información sociodemográfi ca de los curadores (nivel educativo, laboral, económico, antecedentes familiares), información relativa a los pacientes (tipo de trastorno, año de diagnostico, año de inicio de síntomas, presencia de sínto-papel de la alexitimia en la familia (Espina, Ortego, Ochoa de Alda, y Alemán Méndez, 2001;Espina, 2003), la emoción expresada (Rodríguez y Vaz, 2005), depresión, ansiedad y ajuste marital (Ochoa de Alda, Espina, y Ortego, 2006) y un estudio de intervención familiar (Espina, Ortego, y Ochoa de Alda, 2003 No existe una definición unánimemente aceptada sobre lo que se denomina el cuidador principal. En la mayoría de los estudios se utiliza este término para referirse en general a uno o ambos padres (Moller, Gudde, Folden, y Linaker, 2009;Grov y Eklund, 2008) o bien se le equipara al término cuidador informal, refi rién-dose a cualquier familiar o persona con un vínculo afectivo con el paciente. Algunos autores defi nen al cuidador principal, como la persona que atiende en primera instancia las necesidades físicas y emocionales de la persona enferma, que por lo general lo ejercen el/la esposo/a, hijo/a, o un familiar cercano al paciente (Astudillo y Mendinueta, 2008).…”

Parents of Adolescents with Mental Disorders: Improving Their Caregiving Experience

“…Since its introduction in 1996, the ECI has been used to assess carers' experiences in many different clinical situations, e.g. in chronic psychosis (Harvey et al 2001a(Harvey et al , b, 2002Joyce et al 2000Joyce et al , 2003Møller et al 2009;Szmukler et al 1996aSzmukler et al , b, 2003Treasure et al 2001), the first episodes of schizophrenia (Addington et al 2003(Addington et al , 2005Raune et al 2004;Tennakoon et al 2000), bipolar conditions (Møller et al 2009) and eating disorders (Sepulveda et al 2008a(Sepulveda et al , b, 2009aTreasure et al 2001;Whitney et al 2007;Winn et al 2007). Findings on people caring for mentally ill adolescents are lacking, however.…”