Di Lorenzo Rosaria, Girone Anna, Panzera Nunzio, Fiore Gianluca, Pinelli Margherita, Venturi Giulia, Magarini Federica, Ferri Paola
Psychiatric Intensive Treatment Facility, Mental Health and Drug Abuse Department of AUSL-Modena, Via Paul Harris, 175, 41122, Modena, Italy.
Casa Famiglia Querce di Mamre Centro Socio Riabilitativo Residenziale, Fondazione Casa Famiglia Mattioli Garavini- Onlus, Via Statutaria, 44, 42013, Casalgrande, Reggio Emilia, Italy.
BMC Health Serv Res. 2021 Mar 19;21(1):250. doi: 10.1186/s12913-021-06258-x.
Caregivers of patients load different kinds of burdens, including emotional distress. Aims of this study were to evaluate both burden and empathy of caregivers who assist patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.
We selected a sample of 60 caregivers (34 women and 26 men), who assisted patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders treated in our local Community Mental Health Center for a 1-year minimum period. We administered two scales to our sample, Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) and Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale (BEES), and collected data of caregivers and their assisted patients in a 3-month period. Data were statistically analyzed.
We reported a mean ZBI score of 49.68 (±15.03 SD) and a mean BEES score of 14.35 (±9.05 SD), indicating the perception of moderate-severe burden and low level of empathy, respectively. The analysis of internal consistency confirmed the good reliability of both ZBI (Cronbach's alpha = 0.90) and BEES (Cronbach's alpha = 0.77). The correlation between the two scales was not statistically significant at Spearman test. At our multiple linear regression, many variables of both caregiver and patient showed a significant correlation with the ZBI score. In particular, not living with the assisted patient and female gender of caregiver potentially decreased the burden, whereas clinical severity of assisted patient and two caregiver conditions, middle school education and spouse relationship with patient, could worsen the burden. We highlighted two positive statistically significant correlations between the total score of BEES and caregiver characteristics: being spouse and not living with assisted patient.
Our study highlights that the caregiver burden of patients with severe psychiatric disorders is high and is associated with low emotional empathy experienced by caregivers, probably due to a defensive psychological mechanism. The conditions of spouse and cohabitation can concomitantly increase both empathy and burden in caregivers.
患者的照料者承受着不同类型的负担，包括情绪困扰。本研究的目的是评估协助精神分裂症谱系障碍患者的照料者的负担和同理心。
我们选取了60名照料者（34名女性和26名男性）作为样本，他们协助在我们当地社区心理健康中心接受治疗的精神分裂症谱系障碍患者，最短为期1年。我们对样本进行了两项量表测试，即 Zarit 负担访谈量表（ZBI）和平衡情绪同理心量表（BEES），并在3个月内收集了照料者及其所照料患者的数据。对数据进行了统计分析。
我们报告的ZBI平均得分为49.68（标准差±15.03），BEES平均得分为14.35（标准差±9.05），分别表明存在中度至重度负担的感受和低水平的同理心。内部一致性分析证实了ZBI（克朗巴哈系数α = 0.90）和BEES（克朗巴哈系数α = 0.77）的良好可靠性。在斯皮尔曼检验中，这两个量表之间的相关性无统计学意义。在我们的多元线性回归分析中，照料者和患者的许多变量与ZBI得分均显示出显著相关性。特别是，不与所照料患者同住以及照料者为女性可能会减轻负担，而所照料患者的临床严重程度以及照料者的两个状况，即中学学历和与患者的配偶关系，可能会加重负担。我们强调了BEES总分与照料者特征之间的两个具有统计学意义的正相关关系：为配偶以及不与所照料患者同住。
我们的研究强调，严重精神疾病患者的照料者负担较重，且与照料者所体验到的低情绪同理心相关，这可能是由于一种防御性心理机制。配偶关系和同居状况可能会同时增加照料者的同理心和负担。
