Alzahrani Sami H, Fallata Ebtihaj O, Alabdulwahab Marwa A, Alsafi Wesam A, Bashawri Jamil
Family and Community Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, PO Box 80205, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Psychiatry, Mental Health Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
BMC Psychiatry. 2017 May 30;17(1):202. doi: 10.1186/s12888-017-1368-1.
Mental disorders are considered important public health problems not only to people with mental illness but also their caregivers. As is the case in many countries, the deinstitutionalization of mental health services in Saudi Arabia, has meant that informal caregivers are shouldering responsibilities for which they are not usually prepared; therefore, the current study was aimed at assessment of the burden on caregivers of people with mental illness.
Through a cross-sectional design, a sample of the caregivers of people with mental illness (n = 377) was selected randomly from a psychiatric hospital in Jeddah. An Arabic version of the Involvement Evaluation Questionnaire (IEQ) was used for collection of data. The data were analyzed on the subscale scores and the 27 items in two ways. First, we used the summed scores for the subscales based on the Likert scale (0-4) for univariate and multivariate statistical analyses, as recommended. We also used parametric statistics (t-tests, one-way ANOVA) because the IEQ subscale scores were fairly normally distributed.
Males constituted more than one-half of the participating caregivers (55%), with a mean age of 36.6, SD = 11.4 years. As reported by the caregivers, most of the patients were males (62.7%) with a mean age of 33.8, SD = 13.7 years and a range of 17-90 years old. The total mean IEQ burden score of the caregivers was 38.4, SD = 17.5. "Tension" was significantly prominent among younger caregivers aged ≤30 years. "Worrying" was significantly higher among caregivers living with their spouse and children and those living in families with relatively fewer members (<6 members). "Urging" was significantly higher among caregivers who are living with the patient in the same household and those who had been in close contact with the patient for 28 days in the four weeks prior to the study (13.4, SD = 6.8) p < 0.05. Meanwhile, "Urging" was also significantly higher among caregivers caring for mentally ill females (13.5, SD = 6.6) and those not receiving any kind of professional support (12.8, SD = 6.7). The overall burden and the subscale scores were highest among caregivers caring for a close relative such as a parent (44.1, SD = 17.6), son/daughter (39.1, SD = 12.9), sibling (37.1, SD = 18.6), or spouse (37.1, SD = 18.6) p < 0.05.
Care for people with mental illness is burdensome for their caregivers, the magnitude of burden is potentially augmented by factors related to the patients and households. These factors should be considered when planning for preparing caregivers to cope with people with mental illness in Saudi Arabia.
精神障碍不仅被视为患有精神疾病的人的重要公共卫生问题，也是其照料者面临的问题。与许多国家的情况一样，沙特阿拉伯精神卫生服务的去机构化意味着非正式照料者承担起了他们通常并未准备好承担的责任；因此，本研究旨在评估精神疾病患者照料者的负担。
通过横断面设计，从吉达的一家精神病医院随机抽取了精神疾病患者照料者样本（n = 377）。使用阿拉伯语版的参与度评估问卷（IEQ）收集数据。对分量表得分和27个项目的数据进行了两种方式的分析。首先，按照建议，我们基于李克特量表（0 - 4）对分量表的总分进行单变量和多变量统计分析。我们还使用了参数统计（t检验、单因素方差分析），因为IEQ分量表得分呈近似正态分布。
男性照料者占参与研究的照料者一半以上（55%），平均年龄为36.6岁，标准差 = 11.4岁。据照料者报告，大多数患者为男性（62.7%），平均年龄为33.8岁，标准差 = 13.7岁，年龄范围为17 - 90岁。照料者的IEQ总负担平均得分为38.4分，标准差 = 17.5分。在年龄≤30岁的年轻照料者中，“紧张”显著突出。与配偶和子女同住以及家庭成员相对较少（<6人）的家庭中的照料者“担忧”程度显著更高。与患者同住一个家庭且在研究前四周内与患者密切接触28天的照料者（13.4分，标准差 = 6.8）“催促”程度显著更高（p < 0.05）。同时，照料患有精神疾病女性的照料者（13.5分，标准差 = 6.6）以及未接受任何专业支持的照料者（12.8分，标准差 = 6.7）“催促”程度也显著更高。在照料父母（44.1分，标准差 = 17.6）、儿子/女儿（39.1分，标准差 = 12.9）、兄弟姐妹（37.1分，标准差 = 18.6）或配偶（37.1分，标准差 = 18.6）等近亲的照料者中，总体负担和分量表得分最高（p < 0.05）。
照料患有精神疾病的人对照料者来说负担沉重，与患者和家庭相关的因素可能会加重负担程度。在沙特阿拉伯规划如何让照料者做好应对精神疾病患者的准备时，应考虑这些因素。
