Study of coping mechanisms and care giver‘s burden in caregivers of persons with Psychiatric illness

Dr. C.Arun Prasanna; Dr.Mithun Prasad.V; Dr.Vivian Kapil.V

Volume : VIII, Issue : V, May - 2019

Study of coping mechanisms and care giver‘s burden in caregivers of persons with Psychiatric illness

Dr. C. Arun Prasanna, Dr. Mithun Prasad. V, Dr. Vivian Kapil. V

Abstract :

Care givers in Indian families experience a lot of physical and emotional distress. The term "caregiver burden" is used to describe the physical, emotional and financial toll of providing care to the patients suffering from various illnesses. Coping is understood as the process of managing external or internal demands that are considered as taxing or exceeding the resources of the person. Also, it can be perceived as adaptive versus maladaptive and problem focuses versus emotion-focused. Understanding the commonly used coping strategies in a particular group of subjects can provide valuable insights for designing interventions to reduce the stress. Study Proforma containing Socio-demographic details were filled. Burden Assessment Schedule(BAS) and Lazarus Ways of coping scale were administered. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS software (version 16). The most common coping mechanism used were �Positive reappraisal� (79%)�Distancing�(73%) and �Self Controlling�(73%). Out of the 33 caregivers, burden was present in 61%(n=20) of them.