Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T01:14:21.383Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Appraisal of caregiving, burden and psychological distress in relatives of psychiatric inpatients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

Margareta Östman  and
Lars Hansson
Margareta Östman*
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Division of Psychiatry, Lund University, University Hospital 221 85 Lund, Sweden
Lars Hansson
Affiliation:
Department of Nursing, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
*
*Corresponding author. Email addresses:[email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Appraisal of caregiving and its relationship to family burden and experienced mental health problems in the relatives were investigated as part of a multi-centre study of the quality of mental health services in Sweden performed in 1997. The sample was drawn from relatives of involuntarily and voluntarily admitted patients to acute psychiatric wards. The instrument used was a semi-structured questionnaire, interviewing relatives about the burden, experience of mental health problems and appraisal of the caregiving situation. The results showed a high proportion of relatives engaged in caregiving activities on a daily basis the month before the patient's admission to hospital and a high proportion of relatives appraising the caregiving activities negatively. The burden was more extensive if the relative and the patient were living together, had a longer duration of their relationship, if the relative was rendering caregiving on a daily basis and if the relative appraised caregiving negatively. The relatives' psychological distress was not related to their negative appraisal of caregiving, nor was patient characteristics, such as diagnosis and level of psychosocial functioning. The only factor found to influence the relatives' psychological distress was the duration of relationship to the patient. Interventions reducing psychological distress for relatives who have known the patients for more than 20 years, who live with the patient, who give care on a daily basis and who appraise their caregiving negatively are suggested.

Keywords

Family burdenPsychiatric patientsAppraisalPsychological distress
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 19 , Issue 7 , November 2004 , pp. 402 - 407
Copyright
Copyright © European Psychiatric Association 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental Disorders. 4 th ed. Washington (DC): APA; 1994.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 3rd ed. Washington (DC): APA; 1987 (DSM-III-R.GAF Global assessment of functioning scale).Google Scholar
Avison, W. Social networks as risk and protective factors for onset and recurrence of mental disorders. Curr Opin Psychiatry 1996;9:149–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Axelsson, M. Studier av psykiatrisk vård, särskilt tvångsvård, i två svenska län. Anhörigas situation och relationer till den psykiatriska vården. Nord J Psychiatry 1989;43:357–64 (Studies of psychiatric services, especially involuntarily care, in two Swedish counties. The situation of the relatives and their relationship to the psychiatric services.).Google Scholar
Brugha, T, Wing, J, Brewin, C, et al. The relationship of social network deficits in social functioning in long-term psychiatric disorders. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 1993;28:218–24.Google ScholarPubMed
Cornwall, P, Scott, J. Burden of care, psychological distress and satisfaction with services in the relatives of acutely mentally disordered adults. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 1996;31:345–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harvey, K, Burns, T, Fahy, T, Manley, C, Tattan, T. Relatives of patients with severe psychotic illness: factors that influence appraisal of car-egiving and psychological distress. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 2001;36:456–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hoenig, J, Hamilton, M. The schizophrenic patient in the community and his effect on the household. Int J Soc Psychiatry 1966;12:165–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hoyer, G, Kjellin, L, Engberg, M, et al. Paternalism and autonomy. A presentation of a Nordic study of the use of coercion in the mental health care system. Intern J Law and Psychiatry 2002;25:93–107.Google ScholarPubMed
Lefley, H. Impact of mental illness in families of mental health professionals. J Nerv Ment Dis 1987;175:613–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maurin, J, Barmann Boyd, C. Burden of mental illness on the family: a critical review. Arch Psychiatr Nurs 1990;4:99–107.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pharoah, F, Mari, J, Streiner, D. Family intervention for schizophrenia (Cochrane review). Oxford: Update Software; 2001.Google Scholar
Schene, A. Objective and subjective dimensions of family burden: towards an integrative framework for research. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 1990;25:289–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Szmukler, G, Burgess, P, Herrman, H, Benson, A, Cousa, S, Bloch, S. Caring for relatives with serious mental illness: the development of the ‘Experience of Caregiving Inventory’. Soc Sci Psychiatr Epidemiol 1996;31:137–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Östman, M, Hansson, L. Need for support and participation in treatment—differences among subgroups of relatives of voluntarily and compulsorily admitted psychiatric admitted mentally ill individuals. Eur Psychiatry 1999;14:379–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Östman, M, Hansson, L. Family burden and care participation. A test–retest reliability study of an interview instrument concerning families with a severely mentally ill family member. Nord J Psychiatry 2000;54:327–32.Google Scholar
Östman, M. Lund University; 2000 Doctoral dissertation.Google Scholar
Östman, M, Hansson, L. The Relationship between Coping strategies and Family Burden among relatives to Admitted Psychiatric Patients. Scand J Caring Sci 2001;46:191–200.Google Scholar
Östman, M, Kjellin, L. Stigma by association psychological factors in relatives of people with mental illness. Br J Psychiatry 2002; 181:494–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.