Ayesha Asghar (BS, 2014-2018) Supervisors: Saima Majeed & Farah Malik, PhD
The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between psychological distress, affiliate stigma and burnout in caregivers of patients with schizophrenia. It was hypothesized that there would be a significant positive relationship between psychological distress, affiliate stigma and burnout in caregivers of patients with schizophrenia. Moreover, it was also hypothesized that psychological distress and affiliate stigma would be predict burnout in caregivers of patients with schizophrenia. Differences for gender and caregiver’s relationship were also examined for all study variables. The sample was consisted of (N = 150) caregivers including equal number of parents & spouse with age range 25 to 50 years old (M = 41.28, SD = 7.49). Cross-sectional correlational research design and purposive sampling technique was used to collect data from psychiatry units of four government hospitals. Measures for data collection were Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (Kessler, Andrews & Colpe, 2002), Affiliate Stigma Scale (Mak & Cheung, 2008) and Burnout Measure (Pines & Aronson, 2005). The results revealed that there was highly significant positive relationship between all the study variables. Results also indicated that psychological distress and affiliate stigma predicted burnout. According to the results no significant gender differences were found in all the study variables. Parents and spouses were found to be significantly different on affiliate stigma. The findings of the present study are speculated to have sound implications in the clinical settings for planning interventions in order to reduce psychological distress, affiliate stigma and burnout in caregivers. Pakistani culture is a collectivistic culture where all family members have strong bonding and needs social support to remain healthy so psychological well-being of caregivers is essential to enhance their quality of life.
Keywords: Psychological distress, affiliate stigma, burnout, caregivers of patients with schizophrenia.
