Quality of life of caregivers of patients diagnosed with severe mental illness at the national referral hospitals in Uganda

Cynthia Ndikuno; Mariam Namutebi; Job Kuteesa; David Mukunya; Connie Olwit

doi:10.1186/s12888-016-1084-2

Quality of life of caregivers of patients diagnosed with severe mental illness at the national referral hospitals in Uganda

BMC Psychiatry. 2016 Nov 15;16(1):400. doi: 10.1186/s12888-016-1084-2.

Authors

Cynthia Ndikuno^{1

2}, Mariam Namutebi³, Job Kuteesa⁴, David Mukunya⁵, Connie Olwit³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nursing, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. cndikuno@gmail.com.
² Department of Nursing, College of Health Sciences, Makarere University, Mulago Hill road, P.O BOX 7072, Kampala, Uganda. cndikuno@gmail.com.
³ Department of Nursing, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
⁴ Department of Surgery, College of Health sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
⁵ Department of Pediatrics, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.

Abstract

Background: Worldwide, 450 million people suffer from mental and behavioral disorders. In Uganda, it is estimated that 35% of the population that is 9,574,915 people suffer from some form of mental illness. Caregivers are increasingly bearing the responsibility of taking care of these patients, which can influence their QoL due to the social and economic costs they incur. The aim of the study was to assess the QoL of caregivers for patients diagnosed with severe mental illness attending the National Referral Hospitals in Uganda.

Method: This was a cross sectional study. A pretested tool with two parts; a sociodemographic part and a validated WHOQOL-BREF, was used to collect data from 300 consecutive eligible participants. SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) Version 22 and Stata Version 14 were used in data entry and analysis.

Results: Of the 300 participants, 57.3% of the caregivers had a poor QoL. The statistically significant factors associated with QoL were environment (Adjusted coefficient = 0.016, 95% CI = 0.009-0.023), caregiver satisfaction with their health (Adjusted coefficient = 0.405, 95% CI = 0.33-0.487), psychological wellbeing (Adjusted coefficient = 0.007, 95% CI = 0.0002-0.013), and education level (Adjusted coefficient = 0.148, 95% CI = 0.072-0.225).

Conclusion: QoL of caregivers for patients diagnosed with mental illness is generally poor due to the added responsibilities and occupation of their time, energy and attention. This additional responsibility results in high levels of stress and caregivers may fail to have appropriate coping mechanisms. Interventions like support groups or counseling should be put in place to aid caregivers in their role and therefore improve QoL. This study adds to the international database of QoL literature and calls for more attention to be placed on caregivers in supporting their role and improving their QoL so as to lead to better patient outcomes among those diagnosed with mental illness.

Keywords: Caregivers; Quality of life; Severe mental illness; Uganda; WHOQOL-BREF.

MeSH terms

Adaptation, Psychological
Adult
Aged
Caregivers* / psychology
Caregivers* / statistics & numerical data
Compassion Fatigue* / etiology
Compassion Fatigue* / prevention & control
Compassion Fatigue* / psychology
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Humans
Male
Mental Disorders* / diagnosis
Mental Disorders* / epidemiology
Mental Disorders* / psychology
Middle Aged
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Quality of Life*
Referral and Consultation
Stress, Psychological
Uganda / epidemiology