title: Needs for care of patients with schizophrenia and the consequences for their informal caregivers- results from the EPSILON multi centre study on schizophrenia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Schizophrenia as a chronic mental disorder not only has far-reaching consequences for patients, but also for their family members or other informal caregivers. In this study, we investigated whether needs for care of patients with schizophrenia are related to (negative) consequences for their informal caregivers.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 287 patients with schizophrenia and their informal caregivers participated in the EPSILON study of schizophrenia in five European countries. Caregiver consequences were measured by the Involvement Evaluation Questionnaire (IEQ) and needs for care by the Camberwell Assessment of Need (CAN).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Total number of needs for care as well as specific areas of needs for care of patients appeared to be only weak predictors of caregiver consequences in terms of explained variance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Subjective needs for care as measured by the CAN are not a good indicator for consequences experienced by the informal care system of patients with schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Centre Rm. A3.254, 22700, 1100, DE Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Meijer
authors.forename: Aart
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schene
authors.forename: Maarten
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koeter
authors.forename: Helle Charlotte
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Knudsen
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: Graham
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Thornicroft
authors.forename: José Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Vázquez-Barquero
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tansella
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000628:therapy*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires