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Impact on women who care for those with schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Marcia Scazufca
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF
Elizabeth Kuipers*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF
*
Correspondence
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Abstract

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This study examined the impact of caring on women who were primary care-givers to those with schizophrenia. From the 46 women and 21 men carers assessed for the study, women were considered primary care-givers more often than men (83% v. 57%). Higher levels of burden among women primary carers were associated with living with patients, and more hours in contact with them. Worse perception of patients' social functioning was associated with higher levels of burden. The findings of the study showed that women primary carers have particular needs, and services should consider how to provide support for them in their multiple roles, and over longer periods of time.

Type
Women's Mental Health
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

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