Abstract
This study aimed to conduct a quantitative synthesis of the clinical correlates of caregiver burden in schizophrenia studies published in the last two decades. Derived from eight electronic databases, this meta-analytic review revisits 34 English articles published from 2000 to 2020 relevant to family caregiver burden in the schizophrenia field. The Newcastle–Ottawa Scale (NOS) was used to assess study quality. The pooled effect sizes of the selected studies ranged from −0.390 to 0.751. The results indicated a significant association between a heavier burden and disease-related risk factors, including more severe symptoms, greater general psychopathology, greater severity of functional impairment, and longer duration of illness. The results show moderating effects of study characteristics (i.e., study quality, participants, and location) on the correlations between these disease-related risk factors and caregiver burden. This review highlights the roles of study characteristics in affecting the inconsistent results for the effects of disease-related risk factors on caregiver burden in families of patients with schizophrenia. Psychosocial interventions are essential for family caregivers of persons with schizophrenia. Future studies incorporating random samples from both high-income and low-to-middle-income countries will be crucial to understand the effects of cultural contexts on caregiver burden in families of persons with schizophrenia.
Highlights
Accepted: 31 January 2022Schizophrenia is a chronic psychiatric disorder accompanied by disruptions in perception, cognition, language, emotions, behaviors, and life-related functioning [1,2]
Among studies that involved both family caregivers (FCGs) and PwSs as participants, the results revealed a stronger association of caregiver burden with functional impairment (Qb = 20.15, p < 0.001) and duration of illness (Qb = 6.91, p < 0.01) than those that recruited FCGs alone
Because our findings revealed a moderating effect of study quality on the association between caregiver burden and symptom severity, we speculate that the inconsistent results regarding the effects of symptom subtypes on caregiver burden may be attributed to the varying quality of the reviewed studies [15,35,40,42]
Summary
Schizophrenia is a chronic psychiatric disorder accompanied by disruptions in perception, cognition, language, emotions, behaviors, and life-related functioning [1,2]. As one of the most debilitating and costly mental disorders, schizophrenia affects approximately. Is an important extension of the mental health system; family caregivers (FCGs) often play an irreplaceable role in taking care of persons with schizophrenia (PwSs) in many societies [4]. Substantial evidence has emerged suggesting that the effects and burdens of schizophrenia extend beyond PwSs to FCGs [6,7]. FCGs are confronted with a heavy burden, especially in undeveloped areas where shortages of medical resources and public health services are more common [8,9,10]
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