Original Research Article
Year: 2019 | Month: July | Volume: 9 | Issue: 7 | Pages: 63-68
A Study to Assess Burden of Care and Coping Mechanism of Family Members of Schizophrenia Patients
Prof. Dr. Gitumoni Konwar1, Ms. Mauchumi Borah2
1Dean cum Principal, Royal School of Nursing, the Assam Royal Global University.
2MSc. Psychiatric Nursing, Lecturer, Dispur, Nursing Institute, Basistha, Guwahati-29, Assam.
Corresponding Author: Prof. Dr. Gitumoni Konwar
ABSTRACT
The persons with schizophrenia undergo altered behaviour in their lifespan. The near relatives have to experience many crisis conditions while caring for them. The family members suffer high levels of emotional exhaustion while caring for a mentally ill patient. The study was conducted with the aim to assess the burden of care and coping of family members of a patient with schizophrenia in the Psychiatry department of Gauhati Medical College Hospital, Guwahati, Assam, India. The interview schedules the standardize tool Burden Assessment Schedule to assess the burden and Brief COPE Inventory to assess the coping was selected. The Data was collected from 60 family members of a patient with schizophrenia by using a convenience sampling technique. The study result revealed that the majority (60%) had moderate and 21.7% had mild and 18.3% had the severe burden of care. Moreover, the majority of the family member (73.3%) had moderate coping followed by16.7% had inadequate and least (10%) of the study population had an adequate level of coping. There was no significant correlation established between the burdens of care and coping among the respondents. The study confirms the general impression that there is a considerable amount of burden among the family members of schizophrenic patients. The nursing personnel should plan some burden reduction program and adoption of healthy coping for the family members of schizophrenia patients as a part of nursing care.
Key words: Burden of Care, Coping, Family Members and Schizophrenia Patients