Hope mediates the association between anxiety and caregivers’ preparedness in schizophrenia: a cross-sectional study

Background This study investigated the level of preparedness of caregivers of patients with schizophrenia and explored hope as a mediator between anxiety and caregivers’ preparedness. Methods This correlational cross-sectional study included 375 caregivers of patients with schizophrenia. Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire on preparedness, anxiety, and hope. Descriptive analysis, Pearson’s correlations, and hierarchical linear regression modeling were performed to examine the associations between anxiety, hope, and caregivers’ preparedness using SPSS 22.0. The PROCESS v3.3 macro was used to analyze the mediating effect of hope. Results Caregivers’ preparedness, anxiety, and hope scores were (20.79 ± 5.25), (10.38 ± 4.56), and (36.01 ± 5.25), respectively. Anxiety was negatively correlated with hope and caregivers’ preparedness ( r  = −0.478, p  < 0.001; r  = −0.290, p  < 0.001), and hope was positively correlated with caregivers’ preparedness ( r  = 0.513, p  < 0.001). Hope partially mediated the relationship between anxiety and caregivers’ preparedness, accounting for 24.8% of the total effect. Conclusion Anxiety among caregivers of patients with schizophrenia influences their preparedness and is mediated by hope. Enhancing hope among caregivers can reduce the impact of low preparedness caused by high anxiety.