Factors that Impact Caregivers of Patients with Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia, a term first introduced by Eugen Bleurer in 1911, is a controversial topic, a symbol of profound behavioral and personality disorders. Although schizophrenia mainly affects the patients, directly, it indirectly affects their caregivers. Because caregivers of subjects with schizophrenia experience significant burden in taking care of the patient, usually over a long period of time, we decided to analyze some of the factors that can impact the perceived level of stress. Our study group consisted of caregivers 124 patients with schizophrenia, interviewed between January 2018 and July 2019. We analyzed demographic, clinical and other medical variables of patients and caregivers. We also evaluated caregivers’ burden, using the adapted Zarit interview. The average Zarit score in our study was 42.36±8.64, which shows moderate to high burden. Several factors that influence the perceived burden of the caregiver have been identified, such as patient gender, age of onset, patient and caregiver marital status, patient level of education and social functioning, caregiver age, somatic comorbidities and therapeutic compliance of the patient.