Abstract
Background: The key person who provides the most care and support to the patient is defined as the principal caregiver. Women, and particularly mothers, are the principal caregivers in schizophrenia.
Aim: To find out who are the primary caregivers of patients with schizophrenia.
Methods: Seventy six primary caregivers of patients with schizophrenia admitted under a general hospital psychiatry unit were interviewed by a clinician trained in Psychiatry. Socio demographic and other relevant details were collected using the study proforma.
Results: Majority of the caregivers (82.9%) were females and their mean age was 52.5 years. All caregivers were family members and were most often mothers (56.6%).
Conclusion: It was found that almost all relatives within the family served as caregivers fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, children, siblings, daughter-in-laws, sons-in-law. Majority of caregivers were parents, mostly mothers.
Keywords: Caregiving; Caregivers; Schizophrenia; Relative.
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Corresponding Author
Dr Neha Ramsinghani Hotani
Senior Resident, Department of Psychiatry, Government Medical College, Thrissur, India
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v7i7.132
