Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Illawarra Institute for Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Wollongong, Australia.
Asian J Psychiatr. 2017 Apr;26:77-81. doi: 10.1016/j.ajp.2017.01.023. Epub 2017 Jan 20.
Stigma compounds the burden experienced by family members of those with a mental illness. This study aimed to examine burden experienced by carers of people with schizophrenia or affective disorders and to explore the relationship between carer burden and stigma.
A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted with patient-carer dyads involving 67 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and 51 diagnosed with affective disorder. Carers completed the Zarit Burden Interview (short version) and stigma was measured using the Stigma Scale and the Internalised Stigma of Mental Illness Scale.
Carer burden was significantly higher for schizophrenia than affective disorders. Female carers experienced significantly higher burden than male carers. Diagnosis, gender of carer and stigma predicted 22% of the variance in carer burden, with gender identified as a significant predictor.
Reducing stigma related to disclosure of mental illness in carers has the potential to reduce carer burden.
污名化会加重精神疾病患者家属的负担。本研究旨在调查照料精神分裂症或情感障碍患者的照顾者的负担，并探讨照顾者负担与污名之间的关系。
采用横断面描述性研究方法，对 67 名精神分裂症患者和 51 名情感障碍患者的患者-照顾者二人组进行了研究。照顾者完成了 Zarit 负担量表（短版），并使用污名量表和内化的精神疾病污名量表来衡量污名。
精神分裂症患者的照顾者负担显著高于情感障碍患者。女性照顾者的负担显著高于男性照顾者。诊断、照顾者的性别和污名共同预测了照顾者负担的 22%的方差，其中性别是一个显著的预测因素。
减少照顾者在披露精神疾病方面的污名化，有可能减轻照顾者的负担。
