Psychological Distress, Affiliate Stigma and Burnout in Caregivers of Patients with Schizophrenia

Authors

  • Ayesha Asghar Institute of Applied Psychology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
  • Saima Majeed F C College: A Chartered University, Lahore, Pakistan
  • Farah Malik Institute of Applied Psychology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.23918/ijsses.v5i2p73

Keywords:

Psychological Distress, Affiliate Stigma, Burnout, Caregivers of Patients with Schizophrenia

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between psychological distress, affiliate stigma and burnout in caregivers of patients with schizophrenia. It was hypothesized that there is likely to be a positive relationship between psychological distress, affiliate stigma and burnout and psychological distress and affiliate stigma are likely to predict burnout in caregivers of patients with schizophrenia. Differences for gender and caregiver’s relationship were also examined. The sample consisted of (N=150) caregivers including parents and spouse with age range 25 to 50 years (M = 41.28, SD = 7.49). Cross sectional correlational research design and purposive sampling technique was carried out to collect data from psychiatry units of four government hospitals. Measures for data collection were Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (Kessler, Andrews & Colpe, 2002), Affiliate Stigma Scale (Mak & Cheung, 2008) and Burnout Measure (Pines & Aronson, 2005). The results revealed a significant positive relationship between all the study variables. Results also indicated that psychological distress and affiliate stigma predict burnout. According to the results no significant gender differences were found in all the study variables. Parents and spouses were found to be significantly different on affiliate stigma. The findings of the present study are speculated to have sound implications in the clinical settings for planning interventions in order to reduce psychological distress, affiliate stigma and burnout in caregivers.

References

Akintola, O., Hlengwa, W. M., & Dageid, W. (2013). Perceived stress and burnout among volunteer caregivers working in AIDS care in South Africa. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 69(12), 2738-2749.

Astrom, S., Nilsson, M., Norberg, A., Sandman, P. O., & Winblad, B. (1991). Burnout in dementia care relations to empathy and attitudes. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 28(1), 65-75.

Caqueo-Urizar, A., Gutierrez-Maldonado, J., & Miranda-Castillo, C. (2009). Quality of life in caregivers of patients with schizophrenia. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 7(1), 84.

Chien, W. T., Chan, S. W., & Morrissey, J. (2007). The perceived burden among Chinese family caregivers of people with schizophrenia. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 16(6), 1151-1161.

Khan, N., Kausar, R., Khalid, A., & Farooq, A. (2015). Gender differences among discrimination &

stigma experienced by depressive patients in Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 31(6), 1432.

Kessler, R. C., & Andrews, G. (2002). Short screening scales to monitor population prevalence and trends in non-specific psychological distress. International Journal of Psychology in Medicine, 3(2), 956-959.

Kokurcan, A., Ozpolato, A. G. Y., & Gogus, A. K. (2015). Burnout in caregivers of patients with schizophrenia. Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences, 45(3), 678-685.

Larson, J. E., & Corrigan, P. (2008). The stigma of families with mental illness. Academic psychiatry, 32(2), 87-91.

Mak, W.W.S. (2008). Affiliate stigma scale among caregivers of people with intellectual disability or mental illness. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 2(1), 532-545.

Mak, W. W., & Cheung, R. Y. (2012). Psychological distress and subjective burden of caregivers of people with mental illness: The role of affiliate stigma and face concern. Community Mental Health Journal, 48(3) 270-274.

Martens, L., & Addington, J. (2001). The psychological well-being of family members of individuals with schizophrenia. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 36(3), 128-133.

Ong, H. C., Ibrahim, N., & Wahab, S. (2016). Psychological distress, perceived stigma, and coping among caregivers of patients with schizophrenia. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 9, 211.

Ross, C. E., & Mirowsky, J. (2002). Family relationships, social support and subjective life expectancy.

Journal of health and social behavior, 469-489.

Shah, A. J., Wadoo, O., & Latoo, J. (2010). Psychological distress in carers of people with mental disorders. British Journal of Medical Practitioners, 3(3).

Sharma, N., Chakrabarti, S., & Grover, S. (2016). Gender differences in caregiving among family-caregivers of people with mental illnesses. World Journal of Psychiatry, 6(1), 7.

Sreeja, I., Sandhya, G., Rakesh, I., & Singh, M. (2009). Comparison of burden between family caregivers of patients having schizophrenia and epilepsy. The Internet Journal of Epidemiology, 6(2), 1-12.

Wang, B., & Bonita, S.F. (2010). The influence of social stigma and discriminatory experience on psychological distress and quality of life among rural-to-urban migrants in China. International Journal of Social Science and Medicine, 71(1), 84-92.

Yin, Y., Zhang, W., Hu, Z., Jia, F., Li, Y., Xu, H., & Qu, Z. (2014). Experiences of stigma and discrimination among caregivers of persons with schizophrenia in China. PloS One, 9(9), e108527.

Zahid, M. A., & Ohaen, J. U. (2013). Relationship of family caregiver burden with quality of care and psychopathology in a sample of Arab subjects with schizophrenia. BMC Psychiatry, 10(1), 71.

Zisman-Ilani, Y., Levy-Frank, I., Hasson-Ohayon, I., Kravetz, S., Mashiach-Eizenberg, M., & Roe, D. (2013). Measuring the internalized stigma of parents of persons with a serious mental illness: the factor structure of the parent’s internalized stigma of mental illness scale. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 201(3), 183-187.

Zou, G., Shen, X., Tian, X., Liu, C., Li, G., Kong, L., & Li, P. (2016). Correlates of psychological distress, burnout, and resilience among Chinese female nurses. Industrial Health, 54(5), 389-395.

Downloads

Published

01.12.2018

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Asghar, A., Majeed, S., & Malik, F. (2018). Psychological Distress, Affiliate Stigma and Burnout in Caregivers of Patients with Schizophrenia. International Journal of Social Sciences & Educational Studies, 5(2), 73-85. https://doi.org/10.23918/ijsses.v5i2p73

Similar Articles

1-10 of 20

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.