Relationship between Quality of life and caregiver burden among primary caregivers of adolescents with depression / 中国心理卫生杂志

ABSTRACT

Objectives:To analyze the level and related factors of quality of life, caregiver burden in primary caregivers of adolescents with depression, and to explore the relationship between quality of life and caregiver burden. Methods: Totally 180 caregivers of adolescents with depression were investigated in the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University in Changsha, Hunan province. The Hamilton Depression Scale-17 (HAMD-17), Short Form 36 Health survey Questionnaire (SF-36) and Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview (ZBI) were used to assess depressive symptoms of patients, the quality of life and caregiver burden of primary caregivers of adolescents with depression. Results:The scores of SF-36 dimensions were lower in caregivers than in the national norm (P ＜ 0.01). The average score of ZBI was (32 ± 15), while 73.7％ caregiver's burden was in the low and moderate level. The SF-36 scores were lower in caregivers taking care of patients with longer course of disease and suicide history, with lower education level, with lower family income (P ＜0.05). The ZBI scores were higher in those taking care of the patients in hospital, with a long course of disease, with higher HAMD scores, and those with major events in the past 3 months, and being on-the-job, (P ＜0.05). The caregiver burden (personal burden and role burden) of caregivers was negatively related to the scores of quality of life (physical health and mental health) (r=-0.56——0.24, Ps ＜0.01). Conclusion: The quality of life of caregivers of adolescents with depression is severely impaired, and they have obvious caregiver burden. The caregivers with lower education level, lower family income, and being on-the-job, with major events in the past 3 months, and those taking care of patients with a long course of disease, suicide history, and higher HAMD score may have heavy burden and low quality of life. The caregiver burden of caregivers of adolescents with depression is negatively related to their quality of life.