OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to determine the presence of caregiver fatigue among caregivers of patients with schizophrenia at Veterans Memorial Medical Center Department of Psychiatry for the period of 2008-2011. It also aimed to identify the association between demographic characteristics of the caregivers and the occurrence of caregiver fatigue.
METHODOLOGY: This is a cross­sectional study that employed a validated, self-administered questionnaire i.e. Caregiver Self-assessment Questionnaire, which consisted of 16 "yes/no" items and 2 global scale items designed to measure indices of emotional and physical distress. Subjects were also asked to provide their demographic profile to determine if there was an association between caregiver factors and caregiver fatigue. Subjects were selected thru simple random sampling. The values obtained were then analyzed using the Mann Whitney U Test and Kruskal Wallis Test with <0.05 level of significance.
RESULTS: From a total of 360 only 271 caregivers of schizophrenia patients consented to participate in the study Results revealed that 116 respondents or 41.8% for questions 1 -16 and 146 respondents or 53% for question 17 and 155 respondents or 57% for question 18 experienced "severe" level of fatigue. Caregiver factors that were associated with development of caregiver fatigue were: married status, college graduate, unemployed and caring for the undifferentiated type of schizophrenia. Caregivers alleviate their stress thru the help of family members then eventually turn to friends, neighbors, church and civic organizations while a few reported seeking support from all groups at the same time.
CONCLUSION: Most of the caregivers of patients with schizophrenia suffered from "severe" level of caregiver fatigue. Caregivers relied on the rest of their family members to alleviate their stress.