title: Quality of life of caregivers of patients diagnosed with severe mental illness at the national referral hospitals in Uganda.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Worldwide, 450 million people suffer from mental and behavioral disorders. In Uganda, it is estimated that 35% of the population that is 9,574,915 people suffer from some form of mental illness. Caregivers are increasingly bearing the responsibility of taking care of these patients, which can influence their QoL due to the social and economic costs they incur. The aim of the study was to assess the QoL of caregivers for patients diagnosed with severe mental illness attending the National Referral Hospitals in Uganda.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a cross sectional study. A pretested tool with two parts; a sociodemographic part and a validated WHOQOL-BREF, was used to collect data from 300 consecutive eligible participants. SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) Version 22 and Stata Version 14 were used in data entry and analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 300 participants, 57.3% of the caregivers had a poor QoL. The statistically significant factors associated with QoL were environment (Adjusted coefficient = 0.016, 95% CI = 0.009-0.023), caregiver satisfaction with their health (Adjusted coefficient = 0.405, 95% CI = 0.33-0.487), psychological wellbeing (Adjusted coefficient = 0.007, 95% CI = 0.0002-0.013), and education level (Adjusted coefficient = 0.148, 95% CI = 0.072-0.225).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  QoL of caregivers for patients diagnosed with mental illness is generally poor due to the added responsibilities and occupation of their time, energy and attention. This additional responsibility results in high levels of stress and caregivers may fail to have appropriate coping mechanisms. Interventions like support groups or counseling should be put in place to aid caregivers in their role and therefore improve QoL. This study adds to the international database of QoL literature and calls for more attention to be placed on caregivers in supporting their role and improving their QoL so as to lead to better patient outcomes among those diagnosed with mental illness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. cndikuno@gmail.com.|Department of Nursing, College of Health Sciences, Makarere University, Mulago Hill road, P.O BOX 7072, Kampala, Uganda. cndikuno@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ndikuno
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
authors.forename: Mariam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Namutebi
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, College of Health sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
authors.forename: Job
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kuteesa
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mukunya
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
authors.forename: Connie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Olwit
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000068376:Compassion Fatigue / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011788:Quality of Life; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D014454:Uganda / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Caregivers; Quality of life; Severe mental illness; Uganda; WHOQOL-BREF