title: Burden on Family Caregivers Caring for Patients with Schizophrenia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study ‎was to determine the prevalence ‎of the burden reported by family ‎caregivers of Patients with ‎schizophrenia.‎
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross sectional ‎study involved face-to-face ‎interviews with family caregivers ‎of patients with schizophrenia. ‎Using convenience sampling, ‎‎225 caregivers were selected ‎from Farshchian psychiatry ‎Hospital in Hamadan, Iran from ‎July to September 2012. ‎Measures included patients and ‎caregivers' demographic ‎variables and caregivers' burden ‎using the Zarit Burden Interview ‎‎(ZBI). Data were analyzed by ‎SPSS-18 with Pearson ‎correlation and t-test.‎
  
  
  RESULTS
  Using the ZBI, we found ‎that 7.6% of the caregivers ‎experienced "no to low" burden, ‎‎23.5% "mild to moderate", 41.8% ‎‎"moderate to severe" and 27.1% ‎‎"severe" burden. The mean ‎average score of the responses ‎to ZBI was 51.73 (SD: ± 18.23). ‎The level of burden experienced ‎was significantly associated with ‎age, gender, and educational ‎level, relation to care recipient, ‎caregiving duration and duration ‎of schizophrenia illness.‎
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ‎ ‏ ‏Mental health ‎professionals need to develop ‎more innovative programs for ‎families of schizophrenic ‎patients. Furthermore, as a ‎replacement for supporting the ‎families and easing their ‎burdens, it may be more ‎effective to include them in the ‎health care team by assigning ‎specific tasks and providing the ‎required resources to them to ‎perform such tasks. ‎.
authors.affiliation: Behavioral Disorders and Substance Abuse Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical sciences, Hamadan, Iran shamsaei68@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Farshid
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Shamsaei
authors.affiliation: Chronic Diseases (home care) Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical sciences, Hamadan, Iran f_cheraghi@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cheraghi
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran s_bashirian@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Saied
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bashirian
keywords: Burden; Caregivers; Family; Schizophrenia