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A longitudinal population-based study of carers of people with psychosis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2016

A. W. C. Poon ,
C. Harvey ,
A. Mackinnon  and
L. Joubert
A. W. C. Poon*
Affiliation:
University of New South Wales, School of Social Sciences, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia
C. Harvey
Affiliation:
Psychosocial Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne & NorthWestern Mental Health, 130 Bell Street, Coburg, VIC 3058, Australia
A. Mackinnon
Affiliation:
Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, 35 Poplar Rd, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
L. Joubert
Affiliation:
Department of Social Work, Melbourne School of Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia
*
*Address for correspondence: Dr Abner Weng Cheong Poon, University of New South Wales, School of Social Sciences, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia. (Email: w.poon@unsw.edu.au)
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Abstract

Aims.

Few studies have examined the experiences of carers of people with psychosis using a representative sample. Aiming to obtain generalisable results concerning carers in the context of increased emphasis on involving carers in Australian mental health service delivery and policy frameworks, this study recruited carers within the second Australian national survey of psychotic disorders (Survey of High Impact Psychosis, SHIP). Given that most SHIP participants had long-term illness and extended relationships with carers, the health and wellbeing of carers as a group were expected to be relatively stable. However, since it is unknown whether carers’ health and wellbeing would change, our main aim was to explore change and stability in carers’ health and wellbeing and the relationship between any changes experienced by individual carers and corresponding SHIP participants’ functioning over time.

Methods.

Ninety-eight caregivers of SHIP participants were recruited at baseline and completed validated instruments assessing their health and wellbeing. Seventy-eight carers were re-interviewed at 1-year follow-up. Clinical factors were extracted from the SHIP database. Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test and t-test were used to analyse changes in variables over time. Cross-lagged analyses were conducted to identify possible causative relationships in changes in SHIP participant and carer variables.

Results.

A substantial percentage of carers experienced social isolation (28.6%), psychological distress (37.7%) and poorer quality of life than population norms. There were no statistically significant changes between baseline and follow-up scores for almost all carers’ health and wellbeing variables, other than a poorer perception of their quality of life in relation to their physical health after 1 year. Cross-lagged analyses suggested that poorer functioning of people with psychosis influenced carers’ social isolation, grief and psychological distress.

Conclusions.

Findings show that carers’ perception of their health and wellbeing did not improve within current mental health service delivery frameworks over time. Carer's persistently poor health and wellbeing suggests a pressing need to enhance services that improve carers’ health and wellbeing especially their physical health and the functioning of people with psychosis whom they support.

Keywords

Caregiverslongitudinal studyphysical healthpsychotic disorders
Type
Original Articles
Information
Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences , Volume 26 , Issue 3 , June 2017 , pp. 265 - 275
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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