English

Abstract

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. KEYWORDS Caregivers, Quality of Life, Schizophrenia, Mood Disorder