LAUSR

OBJECTIVES This study has aimed to determine the depression, psychological resilience, and burnout levels of caregivers of schizophrenic patients; to investigate the relationship of these parameters with various sociodemographic variables and to compare these variables with a control group. METHOD This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2019 with 80 caregivers of schizophrenia patients over 18 years of age who were living in Hatay and were admitted to the Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic of Hatay Mustafa Kemal University Hospital. Eighty healthy volunteers were also included in the study as a control group. Questionnaires including the Sociodemographic Data Form, Maslach Burnout Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory and Psychological Resilience Scale were applied. The resilience, depression and burnout levels were evaluated based on the results. Mann Whitney-U, Kruskal Wallis and Spearman correlation tests were used and p <0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS A significant relationship was found between the scaled scores and the Positive and Negative Syndrom Scale (PANSS), Clinical Global Impression (CGI) severity score, physical comorbidity of caregivers, sharing the same household with the patient, the age of the caregivers, the duration of the caregiving role and the illness, and the duration of hospital stay (p<0.05). There was a moderate positive correlation (r=0.47) between the PANSS score and Beck Depression Inventory and a moderate negative correlation (r=-0.41, r=-0.34, r=-0.30) between the three sub-dimensions of the Psychological Resilience Scale and the PANSS score. CONCLUSION Caregivers of schizophrenia patients had higher levels of depression and burnout and less mental resilience compared to the control group. This result is associated with the sociodemographic and clinical findings. If the prevalence is not determined and the required intervention is not made, important consequences will develop both for the patients and the caregivers. The fact that these results could be related to sociodemographic and clinical findings may also be indicative of the importance of reviewing the psychological and social support systems available to carers of patients.