Burden of care in caregivers of patients with alcohol use disorder and schizophrenia and its association with anxiety, depression and quality of life

Summary & key facts

This small, single-centre study of 50 caregivers found that the amount of burden felt by caregivers of people with alcohol use disorder (AUD) was about the same as for caregivers of people with schizophrenia. Caregivers who had a high burden were more likely to report anxiety, depression, and worse quality of life. Female caregivers tended to report higher burden. The study used standard questionnaires and found different factors that predicted burden for the two patient groups.

Key facts:

• The study included 50 consecutive caregivers recruited from a psychiatry outpatient clinic between January and June 2017.
• Caregiver burden for people caring for patients with AUD was similar to burden for those caring for patients with schizophrenia (U=1142.5, p=0.46).
• Caregivers with high burden were more likely to have symptoms of anxiety (U=22, p<0.001).
• Caregivers with high burden were more likely to have symptoms of depression (U=32, p<0.001).
• Caregivers with high burden were more likely to report poorer quality of life (U=84.5, p<0.001).
• Female caregivers showed higher burden than male caregivers (U=819.5, p=0.006).
• In multiple regression analyses, for caregivers of patients with schizophrenia the predictors of burden included anxiety, environmental health, socioeconomic status, and the patient’s occupation; for caregivers of patients with AUD the pred
• The study measured anxiety and depression with the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale, caregiver burden with the Zarit Burden Interview, and quality of life with the WHOQOL-BREF.

Abstract

CTRI/2017/03/008224.

Topics

Family and Patient Care in Intensive Care Units Family Caregiving in Mental Illness Schizophrenia research and treatment

Categories

Clinical Psychology Psychology Social Sciences

Tags

Anxiety Caregiver burden Dementia Depression (economics) Disease Economics Internal medicine Macroeconomics Medicine Nursing Outpatient clinic Psychiatry Quality of life (healthcare) Schizophrenia (object-oriented programming)