Real-Time Assessment of the Burden on the Community of Informal Caregivers. A Pilot Study

Abstract

Good mental health is a critical part of individual well-being, and one of the cornerstones of community well-being. This paper focuses on the community of parents of young psychiatric patients, whose well-being loss is significant because of the enormous burden of suffering that results from their children’s illness. This burden is seldom considered by the ordinary calculations of the costs of mental illness. We suggest that digital daily diaries (DDDs) with instant reporting can become a powerful tool to estimate the intangible costs of mental illness, namely the loss of well-being suffered by the community of informal caregivers. A pilot study was carried out to test the validity of the digital tool. The results of instant reports provide accurate information and are consistent with those obtained through other traditional survey methods. The digital data-gathering tool can be extended to design an affordable, prompt, and cost-effective possible solution for policy-oriented interventions. Besides, this digital tool can easily be extended to collect real-time big data and to use them in conjunction with Artificial Intelligence (AI) to give professionals a powerful tool to face a relevant community issue.