Assessment of Physical and Psychological Well-being of Family Caregivers of Schizophrenic Patients

Hashem, Saja

	Assessment of Physical and Psychological Well-being of Family Caregivers of Schizophrenic Patients
IRAQI JOURNALOF COMMUNITY MEDICINE
Article 1, Volume 24, Issue 3, 2011, Pages 205-210
Author
Saja Hashem
Abstract
Background: A descriptive analytical study which was conducted on all caregivers (N =148) for a sample of 60 schizophrenic patients who were hospitalized for a period from 15th of April to the end of October 2000 to assess the physical and psychological wellbeing of family caregivers of schizophrenic patients and its variations with regard to the sociodemographic characteristics of the caregivers . The general health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) was translated and used a study instrument to achieve the study objectives. The results of the study revealed that the caregivers of schizophrenic patients experienced high level of physical and psychological distress as a result of care giving tasks and there were significant differences between the physical and psychological distress of the family caregivers regarding their age, sex, level of education, kinship, and family income at P < 0.05. The study recommended that group therapy, financial support and very well designed education programs should be presented to families of schizophrenic patients to reduce the physical and psychological distress on them, and further studies on large sample of schizophrenic patient's caregivers should be conducted. Key words: Caregivers of Schizophrenic Patients, Family caregivers, Psychological Well-being
Keywords
Caregivers of Schizophrenic Patients; Family caregivers; Psychological Well; being

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