Abstract

Background: There is a definite paucity of Indian studies looking into the caregiver burden, psychological well-being, and the interface between them. Objectives: This work aims to study the correlation between these variables. Materials andMethods: The study sample included 100 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and their caregivers, randomlyselected from thepatientsadmitted inthemale andfemalewardsofpsychiatric center,Jodhpur,as perinclusion andexclusioncriteria.BurdenAssessmentScheduleandPsychologicalGeneralWell-BeingIndexwereusedforthestudy.
Results: Eighty percent of the caregivers experienced moderate levels of burden. The burden was higher among older (r=0.334)caregiversandspouse(po0.0001).Psychologicalwell-beingwaslowinoldercaregivers(r= -0.44)andthose with lower educational status, and higher in the siblings (p = 0.002). A strong negative correlation was found between burden and psychological well-being (r = -0.81). Conclusion: Quality of care given to the individuals with schizophrenia depends on their primary caregiver. It thus becomes essential to plan interventions that would reduce their burden of care and thus improve their psychological well-being.