European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Introduction: Schizophrenia is a chronic psychiatric illness which ahas enormous impact on the persons suffering from the illness as well as the persons taking care of them. Cognitive deficits are common in the persons suffering from Schizophrenia, which further lead to impairment in the daily living of the individual. Caregiving of persons with Schizophrenia places a significant burden on the caretakers and this study tries to study the association between the caregiver burden and the cognitive deficits in persons suffering from Schizophrenia.
Aims:
1)      To measure the cognitive deficits in persons suffering from Schizophrenia.
2)      To find the caregiver burden in the caregivers of persons suffering from Schizophrenia.
3)      To find the relationship between the caregiver burden with cognition of persons suffering from Schizophrenia.
Materials and Methods: This is an cross-sectional study and the study sample consisted of 60 persons suffering from Schizophrenia and their respective caregivers attending the Government Hospital for Mental Care, Visakhapatnam. Persons suffering from Schizophrenia’ cognitive status was assessed using the Cognitive Assessment Interview (CAI). Caregivers’ sociodemographic data was taken and the caregivers’ burden was assessed using the Burden Assessment Schedule (BAS). Statistical analysis of the data was carried out using SPSS software version 23.
Results: The mean Global Cognitive assessment score was 2.73 with a S.D. of 0.74. The mean score of caregiver burden according to the BAS was 76.9 with a S.D. of 6.7. There was a statistically significant correlation between the global cognitive score and the caregiver burden (r=0.783, p<0.01).
Conclusions: This study concludes that there is cognitive impairment seen in persons suffering from Schizophrenia. Caregivers of persons suffering from Schizophrenia have significant burden. There is a significant correlation between the cognitive impairment and the caregiver burden.