Impact of Age and Gender on the Coping Styles and Psychiatric Morbidity Faced by Informal Primary Caregivers of HIV-Infected Individuals Living in India

Abstract

Primary caregivers of HIV-infected patients face enormous burden, which if inappropriately coped, leads to psychiatric morbidity. Little is known of what role caregiver's age and gender play in this. To assess the socio-demographic profile and the influence of age and gender on coping strategies and psychiatric morbidity. Sixty caregivers were assessed on a semistructured sociodemographic proforma, a coping checklist, and the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV; [SCID-I]). Majority of the carers were young, equally from both genders, and used the same number of coping strategies which increased with age. "Avoidance" was preferred by males and older carers. Youngsters had maximum psychiatric morbidity, majority of the depressed were females, while 90% of nicotine dependants were males. Gender, but not age, decided the style of coping and extent of psychiatric morbidity hence gender-specific interventions will improve the quality of life of the carers and their wards.