Quality of life of caregivers of early-onset psychosis and mentally retarded children: A Comparative study

CONTEXT: In India, patients with mental illness and mental retardation (MR) are cared by their families. In caregiving, problems such as disturbance of routine, family leisure, family health, and emotional stress can have a negative impact on quality of life (QOL). AIMS: The purpose of this study is to assess and compare the QOL of the caregivers of children of early-onset psychosis (EOP) with caregivers of MR children and also to find out the correlation between sociodemographic variables and QOL. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A prospective study was carried out in the outpatient and inpatient unit of a tertiary care center teaching hospital of North India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty caregivers each of two groups, i.e., children with EOP and mentally retardation, between the ages of 13 and 18 years with minimum 1 year of illness and fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria, were compared with a well-matched control group. QOL was assessed using the World Health Organization QOL-BREF (Hindi version). Statistical analysis was done using SPSS (version 16.0). RESULTS: QOL was significantly affected in most of its dimensions in the caregivers of both EOP and MR groups in comparison to the control group but more deterioration was noted in caregivers of children with MR. Sociodemographic factors such as domicile, education, family type, and family size were important determinants of QOL. CONCLUSION: Multiple factors seem to be responsible for poor QOL of caregivers of children with MR and EOP.