Burden on Caregivers of Schizophrenic Patients at Polyclinic Outpatient Psychiatric Department, Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital, the Gambia

Abstract The de-institutionalization of mentally-ill persons has led to many patients residing in the communities with family members and shifting the burden of care and caregiving from hospitals to homes The aim of the study was to determine the burden on caregivers of schizophrenic patients at of Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital (EFSTH). The study sample consisted of 161 randomly selected schizophrenic patients’ caregivers. The GHQ-12 questionnaire was used to determine the general health status of the caregivers. The caregivers’ burden was assessed using the Zarit Burden Scale. The data was collected using the researcher-administered method. The collected data was analyzed with IBM SPSS Version 20 using descriptive, mean differences and General Linear Model (GLM). The main findings of this study showed a significant high level of burden on the caregivers. Most of them experienced a high level of physical (70%), psychological (93.2%), social (78.3%) and financial (55.3%) burden. Employment status, specifically unemployed and belonging to the Wolof ethnic group were significant predictors of the level of financial burden on the caregivers. Similarly, the total score of social burden was also significantly higher among the unemployed caregivers. Educational level was a significant predictor of the total score on psychological and physical burden. The caregivers of schizophrenic patients at EFSTH are experiencing a high level of burden as a result of their care giving role which is affecting their health and this call for an urgent intervention.