Burnout in caregivers of patients with schizophrenia.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the burnout of schizophrenia patients' caregivers and to determine the possible relationships between sociodemographic characteristics, symptomatology, perceived social support, and the burnout profile of the caregivers.


METHODS
Subjects included in the study are 76 schizophrenia patients, diagnosed according to DSM-IV-TR criteria, and their caregivers. A sociodemographic form, the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms, and the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms were applied to evaluate the severity of the symptoms. The Maslach Burnout Inventory for Caregivers and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support were applied to the caregivers of the patients. The collected data were analyzed via Student's t-test, one-way analysis of variance, and Pearson's correlation analysis.


RESULTS
The burnout profile of the caregivers was highly correlated with the perceived social support of the caregivers and was also correlated with negative symptoms of the patients. Lower perceived social support was related to all subscales of the Maslach Burnout Inventory.


CONCLUSIONS
Perceived social support is a major factor for caregiver burnout and it was highly correlated with all subscales in our study. We think that having social support provides caregivers with better feelings and so they provide better help to the patients. Appropriate approaches should be taken to intervene in the social and clinical factors that may exacerbate the burnout process.
Ahmet
A
Kokurcan
Ayşe Gül
AG
Yilmaz Özpolat
Ali Kemal
AK
Göğüş
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000451:nursing*; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology