Subjective Burden among Caregivers of Patients with Mental Illness: A Cross-Sectional Study
Journal Title: Journal of Psychiatric Nursing - Year 2017, Vol 6, Issue 2
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Caregivers play a vital role in supporting family members who are sick, infirm or disabled. Patients with mental illness are dependent on their caregiver and their well being is directly related to the nature and quality of the care provided by the care giver. Caring for a mentally ill individual is burdensome due to the quantum of effort needed to satisfy both their physical and psychological needs. Hence, this study was undertaken with an objective to determine the level of subjective burden among the care givers of patients with mental illness. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted among the care givers of the patients with mental illness attending the psychiatric out patient department of a tertiary care hospital. A cross sectional descriptive study design was adopted. The sample size was 178 subjects. Caregivers of the mentally ill were chosen through non-probability convenient sampling method. The caregiver burden was assessed using the Zarit Burden Interview. Results: The result of this study revealed that, among the 178 subjects, a vast majority of subjects (82%) had subjective burden and only 17.9% had experienced no burden. Among the 146 subjects who reported to have care giver burden, about 66 (45.2%) subjects had mild burden; 63 (43.2%) had moderate burden and only 17 (11.6%) subjects had severe burden. Conclusion: It was evident form the present study that at any given point of time, a majority of caregivers of patients with mental illness experienced burden in some form. Hence it is imperative that alleviating the burden among caregivers should be given importance in order to achieve better clinical outcome. Interventional programs exclusively developed for care givers will help them to manage the burden effectively. Psychiatric nurses must give priority in addressing the burden of caregivers in their routine patient care.
Authors and Affiliations
Janarthanan B.
The Missing Tile Syndrome
Human beings can never be perfect instead they should enjoy their imperfections and celebrate them because there is nothing like a perfect life. The Missing Tile Syndrome is a term coined by Dennis Prager. It means focus...
Information for Parents on Management of Behavioral Problems among Adolescents
Children, adolescents and youth today face many social and cultural problems. For some youth, pressures include poverty, violence, parental problems, and gangs. Adolescents may also be concerned about significant issues...
Effectiveness of Sleep Promotion Education Regarding Quality of Sleep among Adolescents in Selected Schools of Doiwala Block, Dehradun, Uttarakhand
Background of the study: Adolescents is the stage in which an individual grow and develop physically and psychologically from puberty to legal adulthood. The study aimed to assess the effectiveness of sleep promotion edu...
Role of Micronutrients in Psychiatric Disorders
Research evidences suggest about the association of deficiency of micronutrients with psychiatric disorders. The relation between micronutrient deficiency and psychiatric disorders are bidirectional. Identification of mi...
Assess Mobile Phone Dependency and Nomophobia among Undergraduate College Students
Background: One of the important technological advancements in the last three decades or so has been the advent of the mobile phone. Mobile phone addiction is becoming one of the biggest behavioral addictions. Nomophobia...