Psychological impact on caregivers traumatized by the violent behavior of a family member with schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: A combination of factors such as substance abuse problems, medication noncompliance, and insufficient insight are generally known to increase the risk of violent behavior. However, little is known regarding the psychological impact on caregivers who are traumatized by the violent behavior of a family member with schizophrenia. Therefore, we carried out an investigation to measure this impact. METHOD: A questionnaire was given to 116 caregivers of individuals with schizophrenia in family support groups in Seoul and Daegu, Korea. Their responses were then evaluated using the 22-item version of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), the 8-item short version of the Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview (ZBI-8), and the 15-item version of the Mental Illness and Disorder Understanding Scale (MIDUS). RESULTS: The mean (SD) IES-R score was 26.69 (17.83) (range, 1-84). Multiple regression analysis showed that the psychological impact of traumatic experiences was significantly associated with the following factors: medical non-adherence (P<0.01), living without the patient (P<0.01), and caregiver burden (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Our results from the present study suggest that even when family caregivers live apart from the patient, they still experience the harmful psychological impact of trauma from the patient's violent behavior. The psychological impact continued as a result of the huge caregiver burden and the medication non-adherence of the family member with schizophrenia in spite of receiving long-term treatment and multiple hospitalizations. The present findings suggest the need for improved community-based service for preventive long-term care, including medication adherence, for outpatients with schizophrenia instead of multiple hospitalizations.

Caregiver burden and coping strategies for patients with schizophrenia: comparison between Japan and Korea.

AIM: With the current shift to community-centered mental health services, considerable research on the family burden of caring for patients with schizophrenia has been conducted in developed countries. However, there has been no investigation of families with Japanese or Korean sociocultural backgrounds. Therefore, the present study compared the caregiver burden and coping strategies of families of patients with schizophrenia in Japan and Korea in order to elucidate similarities and differences in the sociocultural factors that affect the care experience of families in Northeast Asia. METHODS: A total of 99 Japanese (Nagasaki) and 92 Korean (Seoul, Daegu) family members of patients with schizophrenia were surveyed in regards to caregiver burden, coping strategies, and nursing awareness of the caregiver role regarding the patient with schizophrenia. RESULTS: Analysis revealed the following: (i) although no difference in caregiver burden and coping strategy was observed between the countries, the nursing awareness of families' caregiver role was significantly higher in Japan than in Korea; (ii) caregiver burden was significantly associated with the patient's social functioning and care needs in both countries; and (iii) caregiver burden was significantly associated with reduction of social interests, coercion, avoidance, resignation, and nursing awareness of caregiver role in both countries. CONCLUSION: Although the nursing awareness of families' roles in caring for patients with schizophrenia differed between Japan and Korea, similar trends were observed for the causes of caregiver burden. These findings suggest that in order to provide effective support for reducing caregiver burden, the necessity of such support must be emphasized in both countries.