scholarly journals Burden And Coping Behaviour Among the Family Caregivers of the People With Mental Illness

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-23
Author(s):  
B. Kafle ◽  
Y. Bagale

Introduction: Caring for a person with mental disorder is a challenge for the caregivers. Little is known about the ways in which families cope while caring for a relative with mental illness in developing countries. This study has tried investigating the family burden and coping behaviour among the family caregivers of the people with mental illness. Material And Method: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted at Devdaha Medical College during the period of July 2019-December 2019. The research was approved by the Ethical Committee of the Institutional Review Board of Devdaha Medical College. The protocol approval number is 028/2019. Convenient sampling method was used. Data analysis was done in SPSS (Version 23, SPSS Inc, Chicago, USA). Results were presented as frequencies and percentages where required. Results: Moderate Burden was experienced by 72% of the caregivers while the rest 28% experienced severe burden. People whose spouses were mentally ill had severe burden. Males coped with higher degree of problem and emotional focused coping strategy than females. Males felt more burden in comparison to the females and burden was found to be significantly higher among the caregivers who were taking care of their mentally ill spouses. Conclusion: Caregiving is physically and psychologically demanding as it requires an enormous physical and emotional commitment as well as some basic skills. Teaching skills in the form of problem solving and communication are needed to promote the coping abilities and lessen the burden of caregivers.

Author(s):  
Samson Peter Mvandal ◽  
Kudra Mponzi ◽  
Rosemary Mushi

Knowledge and attitude towards mental illness play major role in the recognition, management, sociocultural factors and health seeking behavior among those with mental disorders. The study aim was to determine the knowledge and attitude among Nyamagana community members towards mental illness, Tanzania; A descriptive cross-sectional quantitative study involving 384 participants from sample population aged 18 years and above who were mentally health and semi-structured questionnaires was used to collect data. The results 110 (28.8%) respondents have good knowledge toward mental illness, about 292(76%) have negative attitude towards mentally ill people, 92(24%) respondents have positive attitude toward people who are mentally ill. More over about 318 (82.9%) respondents agreed that care and support of family and friends, could help people with mental illness to get rehabilitation while 66(17.1%) respondents disagreed on the care and support of the family and friends could help mentally ill people to get rehabilitation; The findings show most have poor knowledge and negative attitudes towards people with mental illness and may impair their social reintegration in the community. There’s need to develop strategies to enlighten the public regarding nature of mental illness so as to foster acceptance of people with mental illness by the community members.


2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Vijayalakshmi ◽  
D Reddy ◽  
S B Math ◽  
R Thimmaiah

<p><strong>Background.</strong> Mental illness is an important public health issue worldwide; stigmatisation and negative attitudes towards people with mental illness are widespread among the general public. However, little is known about the attitudes of undergraduates to mental illness. </p><p><strong>Purpose.</strong> To compare the attitudes towards mental illness among undergraduates enrolled in nursing courses v. those enrolled in Bachelor of Business Management (BBM) courses. </p><p><strong>Methods.</strong> A cross-sectional descriptive design was adopted for the present study. A total of 268 undergraduates were selected to complete the<em> </em>Attitude Scale for Mental Illness (ASMI) and the Opinions about Mental Illness in the Chinese Community (OMICC) questionnaires. </p><p><span><strong>Results. </strong>We found significant differences between the number of nursing and BBM students who agreed with statements posed by the questionnaires, e.g., that they would move out of their community if a mental health facility was established there (χ<sup>2</sup>=16.503, <em>p</em>&lt;0.002), that they were not afraid of treated mentally ill people (χ<sup>2</sup>=15.279, <em>p</em>&lt;0.004), and that people with mental illness tend to be violent (χ<sup>2</sup>=14.215, <em>p</em>&lt;0.007) and dangerous (χ<sup>2</sup>=17.808, <em>p</em>&lt;0.001). Nursing students disagreed that people with mental illness are easily identified (χ<sup>2</sup>=30.094, <em>p</em>&lt;0.000), have a lower IQ (χ<sup>2</sup>=70.689, <em>p</em>&lt;0.000) and should not have children (χ<sup>2</sup>=24.531, <em>p</em>&lt;0.000). Nursing students were more benevolent than BBM students, as they agreed that people with mental illness can hold a job (χ<sup>2</sup>=49.992, <em>p</em>&lt;0.000) and can return to their former position (χ<sup>2</sup>=11.596, p&lt;0.021), that everyone faces the possibility of becoming mentally ill (χ<sup>2</sup>=38.726, <em>p</em>&lt;0.000), and that one should not laugh at the mentally ill (χ<sup>2</sup>=17.407, <em>p</em>&lt;0.002). Nursing students held less pessimistic attitudes, as they felt that the mentally ill should receive the same pay for the same job (χ<sup>2</sup>=10.669, <em>p</em>&lt;0.031) and that the public are prejudiced towards people with mental illness (χ<sup>2</sup>=17.604, <em>p</em>&lt;0.001).</span></p><p><strong>Conclusion.</strong> College students’ attitudes towards people with mental illness vary based on the course that they are enrolled in. Attitudes may be positively improved by revising curriculum design to incorporate educational sessions about mental illness. These are essential steps to combat discrimination, and potentially enhance the promotion of human rights for the mentally ill.</p>


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 37-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
S R Adhikari

Introduction: Stigma is an important determinant in mental illness, which determines awareness, symptom recognition and treatment adherence. It is an important factor due to which relatives of patients with psychiatric disorders decide treatment and further evaluation. Materials and Methods: This is cross-sectional retrospective study done at medical college. Valid and standardized rating scales along with socio-demographic profile were used to assess perception, awareness and attitude regarding stigma against mental illness among relatives of patients who have mental illness.Results: Most family members did not perceive themselves as being avoided by others because of their relative’s hospitalization, half reported concealing the hospitalization at least to some degree. Both the characteristics of the mental illness (the stigmatizing mark) and the social characteristics of the family were significantly related to levels of family stigma. Care givers whose relative had experienced an episode of illness within the past 6 months reported greater avoidance by others. Conclusion: Stigma experienced by relatives is pervasive and everlasting. It deeply affects emotional, social and occupational aspects of care giver also which leads to concealment of their patient’s illness, which have long term detrimental situations and non-compliance of medications.J Psychiatric Association of Nepal Vol .3, No.2, 2014, pp: 37-42DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jpan.v3i2.12393


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.R. Bhandari ◽  
K. Marahatta ◽  
M. Rana ◽  
S.P. Ojha ◽  
M.P. Regmi

Background: Presence of a person with mental disorder in family is often associated with some objective and subjective burden on family members, especially those who have a caregiving role. The present study aimed to assess the levels of caregiving burden among family members of people with mental illness.Method: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study in a sample of 56 family caregivers of people with mental illness. Sample was selected using purposive sampling method and their caregiving experience was assessed by using Burden Assessment Schedule.Result: Among the 56 caregivers, 48.2 % had moderate level of burden and 32.1% had severe level of burden. Highly significant difference was observed in the distribution of burden according to level of burden but no significant gender difference was found in the distribution of burden in total and in different domains of BAS. Highly significant burden was found among married and spouse caregivers.Conclusion: As moderate to severe level of caregiving burden was reported by the family caregivers, it is recommended that family intervention should focus on strengthening coping behaviors and social support system to manage caregiving stress.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-46
Author(s):  
Pratibha Khanal

Background: Stigmatising experience related to mental illness is not only confined to the patient but also experienced by their caregivers such as family members and friends. Caregivers feel down and helpless about their affiliation with stigma related to mental illness. Various research studies show that stigma related to mental illness have negative influence on caregivers which leads to concealing the status of mentally ill relatives. Objective: This study aimed to assess the level of perceived stigma among the caregivers of mentally ill patients. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at Psychiatric outpatient and inpatient department of Psychiatry, Kathmandu Medical College from 30th January to August 30th 2020. Two hundred and sixteen respondents were chosen conveniently. Face to face interview was conducted using standard tool ‘Devaluation Consumers Families Scale’ to assess the perceived stigma among caregivers of mentally ill patients. Results: Perceived stigma among the caregivers of mentally ill patients was found to be medium (mean score 15.8±2.8). The caregivers perceived the community looking down on the families with mentally ill relatives (community rejection). The mean score was low (2.1±0.8) on “uncaring parents” which indicates that the respondents did not agree that parents of mentally ill patients were less responsible and caring than others. Conclusion: Caregivers of mentally ill patient perceive stigma in various forms which affects the usages of health facilities, care and support towards mentally ill relatives. Objective: This study aimed to assess the level of perceived stigma among the caregivers of mentally ill patients. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at Psychiatric outpatient and inpatient department of Psychiatry, Kathmandu Medical College from 30th January to August 30th 2020. Two hundred and sixteen respondents were chosen conveniently. Face to face interview was conducted using standard tool ‘Devaluation Consumers Families Scale’ to assess the perceived stigma among caregivers of mentally ill patients.  Results: Perceived stigma among the caregivers of mentally ill patients  was found to be medium (mean score 15.8±2.8). The caregivers perceived the community looking down on the families with mentally ill relatives (community rejection). The mean score was low (2.1±0.8) on “uncaring parents” which indicates that the respondents did not agree that parents of mentally ill patients were less responsible and caring than others.  Conclusion: Caregivers of mentally ill patient perceive stigma in various forms which affects the usages of health facilities, care and support towards mentally ill relatives.


Author(s):  
Abdulaziz Aflakseir ◽  
Muhammad Rasooli Esini ◽  
Muhammad Goodarzi ◽  
Javad Molazadeh

Objective: Stigma has a significant impact on the life of individuals with mental illness. The purpose of this study was to examine the association of contact with the mentally ill with stigmatizing attitudes in a group of college students. Method: A total of 287 college students participated in this study. The participants were recruited from Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences using convenience sampling and completed the research measures including the Level of Familiarity (LOF) and the Attribution questionnaires (AQ). The data were analyzed using SPSS. Results: The descriptive findings of this study showed that the participants’ highest score on stigmatizing attitudes was related to pity and the least score was related to anger towards people with mental illness. Furthermore, the regression analysis results indicated that personal contact, family contact, and work contact with individuals with mental illness significantly predicted stigma reduction, while other types of contacts with the mentally ill, such as friend contact, social contact, and media contact, did not significantly predict stigma reduction. Conclusion: This study highlighted the significant role of having contact with the mentally ill in reducing stigmatizing attitudes towards them.


2017 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chih-Cheng Chang ◽  
Jian-An Su ◽  
Kun-Chia Chang ◽  
Chung-Ying Lin ◽  
Mirja Koschorke ◽  
...  

People with mental illness and their family caregivers often perceive public stigma, which may lead to stigma-related stress (or stigma stress). However, no instruments have been developed to measure this stress for family caregivers of people with mental illness. We modified an instrument that measures the stigma stress of people with mental illness (i.e., the cognitive appraisal of stigma as a stressor) and examined the psychometric properties of the scores of the newly developed instrument: the Family Stigma Stress Scale (FSSS). Primary family caregivers of people with mental illness in Southern Taiwan ( n = 300; mean age = 53.08 ± 13.80; 136 males) completed the FSSS. An exploratory factor analysis showed that the FSSS score had two factors; both factor scores had excellent internal consistency (α = .913 and .814) and adequate test–retest reliability ( r = .627 and .533; n = 197). Significant correlations between FSSS factor scores and other instruments supported its concurrent validity and the ability of the FSSS to differentiate between clinical characteristics, for example, having been previously hospitalized or not. The FSSS is a brief and effective measure of the stigma stress of family caregivers of people with mental illness.


2017 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 461-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Azlinda Azman ◽  
Paramjit Singh Jamir Singh ◽  
Jamalludin Sulaiman

The impact of mental illness is profound. This qualitative study aims to explore the impact experienced by family caregivers who provide care to relatives with mental illness. A total of 15 family caregivers from the state of Kedah in Malaysia participated in this study. The findings indicated that the family caregivers experienced four types of negative impact, including financial burdens and social, psychological and physical health. This study suggests that the family caregivers should engage in support groups to obtain emotional support and the required information from other caregivers who have similar experiences in caring for individuals with mental illness.


2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (213) ◽  
pp. 837-841 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astha Prasai ◽  
Shubash Chandra Sharma ◽  
Rika Rijal ◽  
Shreeyanta K.C

  Introduction: Mental health and physical health are interconnected. Attitude of medical professionals towards mentally ill affects the quality of care the patient receives. Today’s medical students are tomorrow’s medical practitioner. We conducted a study in a teaching hospital to assess the attitude towards mental illness among medical students and interns. Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study was performed in 265 students in Kathmandu Medical College in August, 2017. Opinion about Mental Illness (OMI) questionnaire developed by Cohen and Struening was used. Results: Of the total participants, 49.8%(132) were male and 50.2%(133) were female. Medical students were more authoritarian, more benevolent and believed that mental illness is like any other medical illness. They showed neutral attitude in terms of social restriction of mentally ill and interpersonal relationship as a cause of mental illness. Conclusions: Positive attitude was seen only in terms of benevolence and mental hygiene ideology. Effective teaching and training programs is necessary to bring in positive attitude change towards mentally ill among medical students.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Rajni Suri ◽  
Anshu Suri ◽  
Neelam Kumari ◽  
Amool R. Singh ◽  
Manisha Kiran

The role of women is very crucial in our society. She cares for her parents, partner, children and other relatives. She performs all types of duties in family and also in the society without any expectations. Because of playing many roles, women often face many challenges in their life including both physical and mental. Mental health problems affect women and men equally, but some problems are more common among women including both physical and mental health problems. Aim of the study - The present study is aimed to describe and compare the clinical and socio-demographic correlates of female mentally ill patients. Methods and Materials: The study includes 180 female mentally ill patients based on cross sectional design and the sample for the study was drawn purposively. A semi structured socio-demographic data sheet was prepared to collect relevant information as per the need of the study. Result: The present study reveals that the socio-demographic factors contribute a vital role in mental illness. Findings also showed that majority of patients had mental problems in the age range of 20-30 have high rate. Illiterate and primary level of education and daily wage working women as well as low and middle socio-economic status women are more prone to have mental illness. Other factors like marital status, type of family and religion etc also important factors for mental illness. Keywords: Socio demographic profile, female, psychiatric patient


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