Hr. Winefield et Ej. Harvey, DETERMINANTS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS IN RELATIVES OF PEOPLE WITH CHRONIC-SCHIZOPHRENIA, Schizophrenia bulletin, 19(3), 1993, pp. 619-625
Research shows that the relatives of people with chronic schizophrenia
suffer psychological distress and interference in daily life from the
burdens of caregiving. In this study, members of a self-help group fo
r the relatives of schizophrenia sufferers provided information throug
h a mail survey, using standardized measures of psychological distress
and burden, and severity of the sufferer's illness. Caregiver psychol
ogical distress was high compared with test norms, and the level of be
havioral disturbance in the sufferer was found to contribute to caregi
ver distress after controlling for the caregiver's age, sex, and socia
l supports. An unexpected finding was that those caring for female suf
ferers reported greater distress than those caring for males.