Mental and physical illness in caregivers: results from an English national survey sample

Caregivers make a significant and growing contribution to the social and medical care of people with long-standing disorders. The effective provision of this care is dependent on their own continuing health. To investigate the relationship between weekly time spent caregiving and psychiatric and phy...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:British journal of psychiatry 2014-09, Vol.205 (3), p.197-203
Main Authors: Smith, Lindsay, Onwumere, Juliana, Craig, Tom, McManus, Sally, Bebbington, Paul, Kuipers, Elizabeth
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Caregivers - psychology
England
Female
General aspects
Health Status
Health Surveys
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Mental Disorders - diagnosis
Mental Disorders - psychology
Mental Health
Middle Aged
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Social Support
Stress, Psychological - diagnosis
Stress, Psychological - psychology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Caregivers make a significant and growing contribution to the social and medical care of people with long-standing disorders. The effective provision of this care is dependent on their own continuing health. To investigate the relationship between weekly time spent caregiving and psychiatric and physical morbidity in a representative sample of the population of England. Primary outcome measures were obtained from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2007. Self-report measures of mental and physical health were used, along with total symptom scores for common mental disorder derived from the Clinical Interview Schedule-Revised. In total, 25% (n = 1883) of the sample identified themselves as caregivers. They had poorer mental health and higher psychiatric symptom scores than non-caregivers. There was an observable decline in mental health above 10 h per week. A twofold increase in psychiatric symptom scores in the clinical range was recorded in those providing care for more than 20 h per week. In adjusted analyses, there was no excess of physical disorders in caregivers. We found strong evidence that caregiving affects the mental health of caregivers. Distress frequently reaches clinical thresholds, particularly in those providing most care. Strategies for maintaining the mental health of caregivers are needed, particularly as demographic changes are set to increase involvement in caregiving roles.
ISSN:0007-1250
1472-1465
DOI:10.1192/bjp.bp.112.125369