Family caregivers’ experiences of the barriers to caregiving to patients with schizophrenia: a descriptive qualitative study

Background: Schizophrenia is a chronic disease and its management relies on caregiving by family caregivers. Therefore, affliction of a family member by schizophrenia imposes heavy caregiver burden on other family members. The study of family caregivers’ experiences is necessary for developing effective care quality improvement programs.Aim: This study aimed at exploring family caregivers’ experiences of the barriers to caregiving to patients with schizophrenia (PWS).Methods: This descriptive qualitative study was conducted in ۲۰۲۱–۲۰۲۲. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with fourteen family caregivers of PWS purposively selected from Shafa referral psychiatric hospital, Rasht, Iran. Conventional content analysis proposed by Graneheim and Lundman was used for data analysis.Findings: The barriers to caregiving to PWS came into three main categories, namely inefficiency of support sources, public limited knowledge about psychiatric disorders, and destructive course of schizophrenia. The subcategories of these categories were inadequate support by family members, inadequate support by healthcare system, financial predicament, social stigmatization, social isolation, gradual loss of abilities, and gradual passivity of the patient. Social stigmatization, discrimination, and isolation require family caregivers to hide their patients’ disease and act as major barriers to caregiving.Conclusion: Family caregivers of PWS face different physical, financial, and social barriers in caregiving to their patients and receive limited family, professional, and social support. Healthcare authorities need to provide these family caregivers with strong support in order to help them overcome the barriers to caregiving to their patients.

کلیدواژه ها:

Family caregivers ، Schizophrenia ، Qualitative study ، Content analysis ، Iran