Attitude of Caregivers of the Patient with Schizophrenia

Abstract

Background: The caregivers can make a substantial influence on the patients in the process of becoming healthy again. The present study was aimed to assess the severity of schizophrenia, and its relation with their caregiver’s attitude. Methods: One hundred patients (male=50, female=50) with schizophrenia were recruited from psychiatry wards of different hospitals of Faisalabad though purposive sampling technique and their 100 caregivers were taken as sample. It was a correlational study carried out in 2017–18. Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale was used to assess the intensity of schizophrenic symptoms and Family Attitude Scale was used to estimate the attitude of the caregivers towards their schizophrenic patients. Results: There was significant positive relationship between positive symptoms of schizophrenia and critical attitude of the caregivers. The critical attitude of caregivers emerged as strong predictor for symptoms of schizophrenia and accounted for 23% and 30% variance respectively in the negative and positive symptoms of schizophrenic patients. Conclusion: The critical and negative attitude of relatives especially of primary caregivers can increase the severity of symptoms of patients with schizophrenia. The findings of the current study might be helpful for the caregivers and the health professionals to get acquainted with the issue of critical attitude and its impact on intensity of schizophrenic symptoms.

Pak J Physiol 2019;15(3):57–9