Promoting Psychosocial Health of Family Caregivers of Patients with Chronic Mental Disorders: A Review of Challenges and Strategies

Caregiving for autistic children in Nigeria: experiences and challenges

BACKGROUND

Raising autistic children poses a daunting task for their caregivers. Providing care may take a toll on caregivers' physical, psychological, social, and financial wellbeing. This study explored the experience of the responsibility of care among caregivers of autistic children in Nigeria and informed targeted psychosocial support interventions.

METHODS

This phenomenology qualitative study was conducted among 103 caregivers in Cross River, Nigeria. The PREPARE tool was used for the data collection. Data were analyzed using the inductive and deductive approaches qualitatively, using NVivo software.

RESULTS

Stigma and misunderstanding of autism, emotional impact and acceptance, transportation and accessibility, lack of support networks, and balancing responsibilities and care responsibilities with personal commitments were the major challenges reported by our participants. These factors contributed to emotional strain, underscoring the complexities associated with caregiving experiences.

CONCLUSION

Given the significant responsibilities of caregivers, targeted intervention must be taken to properly enlighten Nigerian societies on autistic people, and the need for acceptance. Key stakeholders must provide suitable healthcare facilities and resources for autistic people. Also, social support groups would help establish a sense of belonging and support.

Healthy Lifestyle Behaviours and Associated Factors in Caregivers of Patients With Chronic Mental Illnesses: A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND

According to the community-based model, caregivers play a major role in the care of patients with chronic mental illness. However, caregivers have little time to attend to their own health needs and tend to ignore their health. Caregivers with healthy lifestyle behaviours are likely to achieve greater physical and psychological well-being.

AIM

This study aims to assess the healthy lifestyle behaviours and associated factors for the caregivers of patients with chronic mental illnesses.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted at the psychiatry outpatient clinic of a hospital in Northwest Turkey, and the sample consisted of 122 caregivers. Data were collected using both a personal information form and the Healthy Lifestyle Behaviours Scale II.

RESULTS

The Healthy Lifestyle Behaviours Scale II score of the caregivers was 124.37 ± 28.02. The mean total Healthy Lifestyle Behaviour Score significantly varied depending on the caregiver's education level, income, caregiving experience and burnout experiences, the number of psychiatric hospitalisations of their patients in their lifetime and the perceived financial impact and social impact of their care (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The results suggest that psychiatric nurses should play a more active role in protecting and improving caregivers' health and well-being by developing psychoeducational programmes that could help caregivers adopt healthy lifestyle behaviours.

Identifying Needs and Support Services for Family Caregivers of Older Community-Based Family Members: Mixed-Method Research Findings

A recent Canadian study conducted in one province identified family caregiver support needs and essential support services when caring for older community-based family members requiring assistance with activities of daily living. Weekly interviews of 150 volunteer caregivers over 6 months identified 11 support needs and 5 essential support services. Scoping literature reviews of the 11 needs found they had all been identified before. Program logic investigations of the 5 support services identified a patch-work of temporarily available support services in existence across the province. Two governmental policies are recommended: (a) provincial policy assuring access to the five support services, and (b) federal policy for federal-provincial funding transfers to address the provincial cost of assured community-based support services. Family caregivers require this support to maintain their own and their family member's well-being, particularly as this caregiving prevents or delays older family member hospitalizations and nursing home entry.

The Effect of The Mental Health Literacy Promotion Program on Emotion Regulation Strategies of Family Caregivers of Patients with Chronic Psychiatric Disorders in Isfahan, Iran

Background

Emotion regulation strategies help family caregivers of chronic psychiatric patients to manage caring behaviors. However, evidence pointed out problems and therefore a need to execute respective programs to improve emotion regulation for caregivers. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of mental health literacy promotion programs on emotion regulation strategies of family caregivers of chronic psychiatric patients.

Materials and Methods

This is a clinical trial study, with two-group pretest-post-test design with a follow-up period conducted in 2023. Sixty family caregivers of chronic psychiatric patients were randomly allocated to intervention control groups. Data collection was done using a demographic characteristics questionnaire and Gross and John's Emotion Regulation Scale. The mental health literacy promotion program was implemented for the intervention group in six sessions weekly. Immediately and 1 month after the last meeting, the questionnaires were completed. The data were analyzed using Chi-squared and Fisher's exact tests, Mann-Whitney test, and analysis of covariance by SPSS-22. The significance level was set to 0.05.

Results

The results showed that the frequency distribution of demographic variables in the control and test groups had no statistically significant difference (p > 0.05). The intervention had significant effects on the mean score of emotion regulation strategies, and its subscales included re-evaluation and suppression of family caregivers of chronic psychiatric patients in both the post-test and follow-up periods (p < 0.001).

Conclusions

According to improving the emotion regulation of family caregivers of chronic psychiatric patients through the mental health literacy promotion program, it is suggested to use this program to achieve the desired emotion regulation.

"Sustaining the burden". A qualitative study on the emotional impact and social functioning of family caregivers of patients with psychosis

Evidence shows that caring for a family member with a psychotic disorder generates a significant emotional impact and repercussions on social functioning. However, this caregiving experience can be influenced by cultural factors. The aim of this study is to explore the experience and perception of a group of family caregivers of patients with psychotic disorders of different durations regarding the emotional and social functioning repercussions of caregiving on them in Andalusia. Three focus groups (28 participants) were conducted. Data were subject to a thematic analysis. Three themes emerged from the data: 1) Emotional invasion; 2) Disruption in the caregiver's life project; and 3) Changes in the family system. Participants reported experiencing sadness, fear, overwhelm, hopelessness, and uncertainty. Caregivers' accounts reflected an interruption of their daily tasks, as well as the need to reformulate plans or goals outside the family life that require long-term commitment, such as professional development or even their residence. The narratives indicated an impact on all roles within the family system, particularly for the mother. The results are consistent with existing research. Healthcare professionals and programs should take into account the costs associated with caregiving in order to minimize them, given the impact it has on both the patient's and the caregivers' health.

Role adoption, anxiety, depression and loneliness in family caregivers of patients with chronic diseases

OBJECTIVE

to describe and explore the relationship of loneliness, anxiety and depression with adoption of the caregiver role among individuals caring for people with chronic diseases in Colombia.

METHODS

this was an exploratory and cross-sectional study involving 960 primary caregivers of individuals with chronic diseases. We applied the Caregiver Role Adoption Scale, the University of California at Los Angeles Loneliness Scale, and the Anxiety and Depression Scale. Principal component and multiple correspondence analyses were performed for clustering.

RESULTS

among the participating caregivers, 40.8% reported experiencing depression, 59% reported anxiety, 54.6% reported moderate to severe loneliness, and 88.6% reported satisfactory adoption of the caregiver role. Caregivers who presented basic or insufficient role adoption levels tended to have higher scores for anxiety, depression and loneliness.

CONCLUSION

adoption of the caregiver role is a mediator in the anxiety, depression and loneliness levels among caregivers. Strategies aimed at supporting caregivers should include training for the caregiver role to mitigate the negative impacts of anxiety, depression and loneliness. (1) More than half of the caregivers reported moderate or severe anxiety and loneliness. (2) Caregivers with low role adoption levels presented more anxiety, depression and loneliness. (3) Satisfactory adoption of the caregiver role reduces anxiety, depression and loneliness. (4) Role adoption should be intervened to reduce the impact on caregivers' mental health.

Influencing factors of length of stay among repeatedly hospitalized patients with mood disorders: a longitudinal study in China

BACKGROUND

Patients with mood disorders usually require repeated and prolonged hospitalization, resulting in a heavy burden on healthcare resources. This study aims to identify variables associated with length of stay(LOS) of repeatedly hospitalized patients with mood disorders and to provide information for optimizing psychiatry management and healthcare resource allocation.

METHODS

Electronic medical records (EMRs) of repeatedly hospitalized patients with mood disorders from January 2010 to December 2018 were collected and retrospectively analyzed. Chi-square and t-test were adopted to investigate the differences in characteristics between the two groups of short LOS and long LOS. Generalized estimating equation (GEE) was conducted to investigate potential factors influencing LOS.

RESULTS

A total of 2,009 repeatedly hospitalized patients with mood disorders were enrolled, of which 797 (39.7%) had a long LOS and 1,212 (60.3%) had a short LOS. Adverse effects of treatment, continuous clinical manifestation, chronic onset type, suicide attempt, comorbidity and use of antidepressants were positively associated with long LOS among all repeatedly hospitalized patients with mood disorders (P < 0.050). For patients with depression, factors associated with long LOS consisted of age, monthly income, adverse effects of treatment, continuous clinical manifestation, suicide attempt and comorbidity (P < 0.050). Whereas, for patients with bipolar disorder (BD), adverse effects of treatment, four or more hospitalizations and use of antidepressants contributed to the long LOS (P < 0.050). Influencing factors of LOS also vary among patients with different effectiveness of treatment.

CONCLUSION

The LOS in repeatedly hospitalized patients with mood disorders was influenced by multiple factors. There were discrepancies in the factors affecting LOS in patients with different diagnoses and effectiveness of treatment, and specific factors should be addressed when evaluating the LOS.

Influence of Gratitude and Sense of Meaning in Life on Caregiving Self-Efficacy of Family Caregivers of Persons With Mental Illness

Caregiving self-efficacy is a major factor in mitigating mental health issues and improving care satisfaction and care behavior in caregivers. This study investigated gratitude and sense of meaning in life's influence on caregiving self-efficacy of family caregivers of persons with mental illness. We collected data from 142 family caregivers using the Korean self-reporting scale of gratitude, meaning in life, and caregiving self-efficacy. Data analysis was performed using hierarchical regression analysis. Gratitude and the presence of meaning were significant factors in boosting caregiving self-efficacy. Therefore, these factors must be promoted to enhance the caregiving self-efficacy of family caregivers of persons with mental illness.