Burden in family caregivers of psychiatric patients attending public services

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Family burden among caregivers of psychiatric patients has been reported in international researches, but in Brazil very few studies investigated this problem. OBJECTIVES: This study describes the family caregivers' objective and subjective burden and identified the most affected domains of their lives. METHODS: Descriptive study using a sample of 150 family caregiversofpsychiatricpatients,randomly selected from Cersamsin Belo Horizonte (MG), Brazil. It was applied a Family Burden Interview Schedule (FBIS-BR) and a standardized clinic and socio-demographic data questionnaire. RESULTS: Most caregivers presented high objective burden related to frequent daily assistance of patients and a high subjective burden related to worries about the patients, feeling of burden in supervising their problematic behaviors and perception of permanent impact in their social and professional lives. The daily alterations in the routine had not caused objective burden to the caregivers. The average of monthly expenses with patients was of R$ 153.5. CONCLUSIONS: Results confirmed data from international research with the same target population and from Brazilians studies with caregivers of old patients with depression or dementia. Results obtained in the present research indicated that it is necessary to develop intervention programs for information, support and orientation of family caregivers.