[Everyday burden of mentally ill people's spouses -- client orientated approaches in relatives' support]

Abstract

Objective: Regarding clinical practice groups for relatives of mentally ill people mostly are conceptualized depending on the type of disorder the patient is suffering from. However, results of research on burden of caregivers indicate aspects of burden which do not seem to be associated with the patients' disorder.

Method: As part of a study on the burden of caregiving to mentally ill family members in-depth interviews as well as diary writing over a 12 weeks period were carried out with 6 spouses of patients suffering from schizophrenia or depression.

Results: Differences in the burden of caregiving do not seem to be related to the type of the patients' diagnosis. Aspects of partnership dominated the interviews and diary writing of the spouses. In all cases substantial parts of experienced burden are related to the spouses' efforts to share mastering of the illness with the patient.

Conclusions: The hypothesis of specific aspects regarding the type of the patients' disorder related to spouses caregiver burden can not be supported by the results of this study. However, our results seem to encourage aspects of relationship within the development of support programs for relatives of mentally ill people.