Rama Krishnam Raju Rudraraju1, Sivaramakrishna Molli2
BACKGROUND
Caregivers play a significant role in psychosocial management of mentally ill
patients, as a result of an increasing shift of psychiatric care to the community.
Nowadays, caregiver’s role becomes vital as psychiatric patients are receiving
relatively short inpatient care, and early discharge from hospital. Caregivers of
patients with major psychiatric disorders have diminished quality of life as these
disorders are long-lasting. The purpose of this study was to compare the quality
of life in caregivers of patients with schizophrenia and mood disorder.
METHODS
This is a cross-sectional study. Sample consists of 60 caregivers of patients with
schizophrenia and mood disorder, who are attending a government hospital for
mental care. Data was collected and quality of life was assessed using world health
organisation QOL - BREF (WHOQOL - BREF) questionnaire. Mean quality of life
score of caregivers of patients with schizophrenia and mood disorder was
compared. Higher the score, better the quality of life.
RESULTS
Sample consists of 34 females and 26 males. Mean quality of life score of
caregivers of patients with schizophrenia and mood disorder was 79.3 and 82.3,
respectively. There is a significant difference between the mean quality of life score
of caregivers of schizophrenia and mood disorder group with a P - value 0.013 (<
0.05). Quality of life is better in caregivers of patients with mood disorder
compared to schizophrenia, maybe due to the nature of the illness, i.e. continuous
in schizophrenia and episodic type in mood disorder.
CONCLUSIONS
Measuring quality of life among caregivers can help initiate early intervention
among vulnerable caregivers. By providing better health services and
psychoeducation, caregivers quality of life can be improved, which improves the
level of caregiving and also helps in enhancing the quality of life in mentally ill
patients.
