Abstract
OBJECTIVE
To examine whether caregiver burden is linked to psychological distress in caregivers of people with psychosis in Pakistan, and whether family-conflict measured through conflict-management styles mediates this relationship.
STUDY DESIGN
Correlational study.
PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY
The data was gathered in the six-month period in psychiatric outpatient wards and rehabilitation centers in Faisalabad.
METHOD
There was a purposive sample of 120 family caregivers of clinically diagnosed psychosis patients. Zarit burden Interview (ZBI), Kessler psychological distress scale (K10) and Conflict management style assessment scale were used. Data were then analyzed in SPSS-27 using Pearson correlations, multiple regression, and mediation analysis through the PROCESS macro.
RESULTS
Caregiver burden showed strong positive relationships with psychological distress (r =.62, p=. 01) and was also a strong predictor of distress in regression analyses (b=.62, p=. 001). Burden made a negative prediction of collaborating style (b= -.19, p=.034), but other conflict styles did not do so. Psychological distress was also greatly predicted by conflict-management styles (b= -.30, p= -.001). Mediation analysis showed that conflict styles were not significantly mediate the burden-distress relationship (indirect effect B=0.02, 95% CI= -0.02, 0.07). Women caregivers claimed to have more depressive symptoms, whereas men caregivers used collaborating and competing styles frequently.
CONCLUSION
Caregiver burden is a major predictor of psychological stress among the caregivers of the psychotic patients in Pakistan. Despite the linkage of conflict-management styles to distress, it does not mediate the burden-distress relationship. This highlights the need of caregiver strain-specific interventions.