Coping Strategies among Caregivers of Chronic Schizophrenia

Abstract

Families caring for a member with a chronic severe mental illness have to cope with a lot of burden and distress. The concept of coping is generally defined as the cognitive and behavioral effort the individual makes in order to master, tolerate or reduce demands that tax or exceed their resources. The current study was undertaken to assess the coping strategies among caregivers of chronic schizophrenia patients. Quantitative descriptive approach was used for the study. The population under study was patients having chronic schizophrenia and their family care givers. 177 caregivers of chronic schizophrenia were included in the study by consecutive sampling. Results revealed that caregivers adopted more of religious coping and social support as coping strategies. Female caregivers adopted religious coping and social support coping strategies compared to that of males.