Caregiver Burden Among the Elderly Caregivers of Patients with Schizophrenia

BACKGROUND: Many studies from India have evaluated the caregiver burden among the family members of patients of schizophrenia and have reported the same to be high. However, none of the studies have specially looked at the elderly caregivers. AIM: To evaluate the caregiver burden among the elderly caregivers of patients with schizophrenia. METHODOLOGY: 100 elderly caregivers (age > 60 years) were evaluated on Family Burden Scale (FBS) RESULTS: Mean age of the patients was 38.2 years (SD 10.33) and the mean duration of education was 12.24(SD 3.96) years. Majority of the patients were males (n=61) and currently unmarried (n=67). Mean age of the caregivers was 65.06 years (SD 6.21) and the mean duration of education was 9.76 years (SD 5.16). There were nearly equal number of caregivers where male (N=49) and female (N=51). Mean Total Family Burden Scale Score for the study sample was 30.40 (SD 12.37). In terms of various domains of FBS, the mean weighted score was highest for the domain of disruption of leisure activities [mean (SD): 1.53(0.55)], followed by disruption of daily activities [mean (SD): 1.38(0.63)], impact on mental health [mean (SD): 1.27(0.47), disruption in interaction [mean (SD): 1.23(0.68)], financial burden [mean (SD): 1.15(0.69)], and least for impact on the physical health [mean (SD): 0.94(0.57)]. CONCLUSION: Elderly caregivers of patients experience high level of caregiver burden and the hierarchy of distribution of caregiver burden among the elderly is different than that reported for the adult caregivers.