Coping strategies of family caregivers of patients with schizophrenia in Iran: A cross-sectional survey.
Farnaz Rahmani, Fatemeh Ranjbar, Mina Hosseinzadeh and 3 others
PMID 31406884WHAT IT FOUND
Family caregivers of people with schizophrenia in Iran mostly used avoidance, coercion and resignation, and 38.27% reported severe burden.
Information gathering was least used. The survey cannot show these coping styles caused burden or that support would help.
Key findings
01Emotion-focused coping was the most frequently used coping type (54.22%), especially avoidance (23.11%), coercion (16.44%) and resignation (14.67%), while information gathering was least used (10.22%).
02Caregiver burden was high: 38.27% reported severe burden, 29.41% high burden, 19.39% mild burden and 12.93% low burden.
03Coping subscale scores were negatively correlated with burden (r = 0.32 to 0.41), and maladaptive coping was associated with higher burden than adaptive coping (49.51 ± 10.24 vs 27.31 ± 7.11, P < 0.001).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study measured coping and burden at one time, so it cannot show whether coping caused burden, burden caused coping, or demographic factors caused either. Participants came from one psychiatric clinic in Tabriz, Iran, and were selected by homogeneous purposive sampling, so the results may not apply to other settings or to more diverse caregiver groups. All information came from caregiver self-report, including the absence of psychiatric disorder. The paper does not test any intervention, so it cannot show that psychoeducation or support changes caregiver coping, burden or patient outcomes.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that psychoeducation or coping advice reduces caregiver burden. The study measured coping and burden at one time in one Iranian clinic sample, so it cannot show what causes what or whether any intervention works.