The Burden Of Mental Health Care On Family Caregivers In The Tamale Metropolis

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: Caring for mentally ill relatives could have adverse effects for caregivers, care-recipients, and society in general, and may contributes to psychiatric morbidity. Despite the general acknowledgement of the adverse consequences of caring for mentally ill persons for individuals and society, a vacuum still exists in research to assess the problem, strategies and policies to address mental health related caregiver burden in Ghana. This study sought to examine the experiences of family caregivers in their care giving roles to relatives with mental illness in order to engineer programmes targeted at contributing to improving and maintaining the quality of life among this critical population in Ghana. Methods: A cross-sectional study design that employed mixed methods was used for the conduct of the research. An EMIC questionnaire, Zarit Burden Interview scale, General Health Questionnaire (GHQ12), Family Stigma Scale (FSS) and key Informant Interview guide were used to collect quantitative data from 293 respondents and qualitative data from ten key-informants. Correlational and hierarchical multiple linear regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between the independent and dependent variables of the study. Results: The finding of the study was that, caregiver burden is rife among caregivers of mentally ill relatives in the Tamale metropolitan area. All caregivers interviewed in this study agreed that they experienced negative emotional, psycho-social, financial and physiological effects in their daily lives on account of taking care for a mentally ill individual who is a relative. Conclusion: Caregiving role-strain, low self-efficacy, feeling overwhelmed, learned-helplessness, and moral guilt were established as predicting factors for caregiver burden at 5% level of significance in the study area.