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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Schizophrenia
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1559786
Care burden among Iranian family caregivers of patients with schizophrenia: The predictive role of quality of life and life satisfaction
Provisionally accepted
Maede Esmaeeli1
Seyedmohammad Mirhosseini1*
Somaye Minaei Moghadam2
Mohammad Hasan Basirinezhad3
Saeed Ghasempour1
Hossein Ebrahimi1- 1School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Shahroud, Iran
- 2Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan, Iran
- 3School of Public Health, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, Yazd, Yazd, Iran
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IntroductionCaring for patients with schizophrenia poses significant challenges for families. This study examined the relationships between caregiving burden, quality of life, and life satisfaction among family caregivers.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted in 2023-24 in Mashhad, Iran. Family caregivers who provided care to a patient with schizophrenia for at least six months completed the Zarit Burden Inventory to evaluate caregiver burden, the 12-item Short Form Health Survey to assess quality of life, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale to measure life satisfaction. The data were analyzed using multiple linear regression.ResultsA total of 211 family caregivers participated, with a mean age of 48.17 ± 14.98 years, of whom 130 (61.61%) were female. Caregiver burden was associated with caregiver-related factors, such as lower life satisfaction (β = -1.27, p < 0.001, 95% CI = -1.48, -1.06), employment status, where housewives experienced lower caregiving burden than unemployed individuals (p = 0.039, β = -4.4, 95% CI = -8.65, -0.21), and marital status, where singles experienced lower caregiving burden than married individuals (p = 0.001, β = -7.89, 95% CI = -11.88, -3.90). In addition, patient-related factors such as longer duration of illness (p < 0.001, β = 0.42, 95% CI = 0.20, 0.64) and lack of health insurance coverage (compared to having coverage) (p = 0.023, β = 5.10, 95% CI = 0.71, 9.49) were associated with higher caregiver burden. Together, these variables explained 62.9% of the variance in the total care burden score.
Keywords: caregiver burden, Quality of Life, life satisfaction, Schizophrenia, caregiver
Received: 13 Jan 2025; Accepted: 14 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Esmaeeli, Mirhosseini, Minaei Moghadam, Basirinezhad, Ghasempour and Ebrahimi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Seyedmohammad Mirhosseini, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Shahroud, Iran
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