Assessment of functionality in persons with schizophrenia and its impact on burden and self-efficacy of caregivers

Pages:465-469
Shefalika Sahai and Rushi (Department of Clinical Psychology, Centre of Excellence in Mental Health, PGIMER Dr. RML, Hospital, New Delhi)
Ram Pratap Beniwal, Smita N. Deshpande, and Triptish Bhatia (Department of Psychiatry, Centre of Excellence in Mental Health PGIMER Dr. RML Hospital, New Delhi)

Schizophrenia is a serious psychiatric illness affecting millions of people worldwide. This illness itself brings a plethora of symptoms which are not only debilitating to the individual concerned but also affect the family and contribute to caregiver burden. Some factors- such as good functioning of the sufferer- may buffer or protect caregivers from the distressing aspects of caregiving such as their own self-efficacy. We aimed to study the impact of the patients of functionality on the experience of burden and self-efficacy of the caregiver. We recruited 50 consented persons with schizophrenia (DSM-5) and their caregivers. Functional Assessment Battery was applied to assess the functionality of persons with schizophrenia while Burden Assessment Schedule and Self Efficacy Scale were administered to the caregiver. Pearson’s correlation and regression analyses were carried out to investigate the relationship between patient’s functionality with caregiver’s burden and self-efficacy.Caregiver burden was negatively related to caregiver self-efficacy indicating that as the burden increased, there was reduction in the caregiver’s self-efficacy to deal with the illness (p=0.01). Caregiver burden was negatively related to patient functionality (p=0.01). Significant positive correlation was found between the functionality of the patient and the self-efficacy of the caregiver (r= 0.311, p= 0.05). We found a significant relationship between functionality of the patient with caregiver burden and self-efficacy, and between caregiver burden and caregiver self-efficacy themselves. Moreover, functionality of the patient was a significant predictor of burden; and burden was found to be a significant predictor of self-efficacy of the caregiver.