Psychological distress among family care givers of people with mental illness at Hyderabad, Pakistan

Objective: To determine the prevalence and associated factors of psychological distress among care givers of people with mental illness (PWMI). Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted from 1st Oct 2018 to 31st Mar 2019, at Sir Cowasjee Jehangir Institute of Psychiatry, Hyderabad, Pakistan. Consecutive sampling technique was used to select 376 participants. Psychological distress among care givers was evaluated by using the Urdu version of the self-reporting questionnaire (SRQ-20). Descriptive statistics, binary and multinomial logistic regression analysis were employed. Results: Out of 376 care givers of PWMI, 299 (79.5%) were male and 208 (53.3%) were married. Mean age of care givers was 39.10 +/- 10.38 years (range 18 - 58). High score of psychological distress were seen in care givers of schizophrenia (68.7%, n = 90), bipolar affective disorder (60.7%, n = 51) and mental & behavioural disorders due to psychoactive substance uses (66.2%, n = 45). Conclusion: Half of the care givers suffered from psychological distress. Care givers of mid-fifties and belonging to urban areas were susceptible to develop the psychological distress.