Pandemic Experiences of Family Caregivers of Individuals with Schizophrenia

Abstract

Introduction: Caregivers of individuals with schizophrenia often experience worse quality of life, higher levels of care burden, and increased costs compared to caregivers of individuals with other chronic conditions like Alzheimer's disease, cancer, or stroke. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the challenges faced by caregivers of people with schizophrenia, leading to increased care difficulties, burden, and impacts on mental health. The pandemic has highlighted the necessity of integrated collaborative care models to ensure continuous access to healthcare and prescribed treatments for individuals with schizophrenia. Objectives: This study aims to explore family experiences in caring for schizophrenia patients during the Covid-19 pandemic using qualitative approach. Methods: A qualitative thematic analysis method was used to evaluate data obtained with indeep individual interview from caregivers for an individual diagnosed by schizophrenia. The data were collected between May and June 2023. Results: The experiences of family caregivers were categorized under four themes, which were further divided into subcategories: "Challenging situations caused by the patient", "Challenging situations caused by institutional", "Facilitating situations", "Difficulties experienced by the caregiver". Conclusion: It is thought that it will be important to develop additional intervention steps and facilitating policies for schizophrenia patients according to healthy population to protect the mental health of caregivers with heavy care burden in situations requiring restrictive measures such as pandemic.