Evaluation of general health of caregivers of patients with mental disorders referred to psychiatric center in Zahedan

Evaluation of general health of caregivers of patients with mental disorders referred to psychiatric center in Zahedan
Mehdi Shirzaei jalali,^1,* Venus Sargazi,² Nasrin Rezaei,³ Mahdieh Alizadeh,⁴
1. Nursing Department, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran
2. Nursing Department, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran
3. Pregnancy Health Research Center, Assistant Professor, Department of Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences
4. Nursing Department, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran
Introduction: Mental illness is one of the leading causes of disability and affects the performance of life and family in social, family and educational dimensions. Therefore, chronic medical complications not only affect the life of the sufferer but also various aspects of life. The family also changes their health, including their health. The aim of this study was to determine the general health of caregivers of patients with mental disorders and related factors.
Methods: This is a descriptive-analytical study. The number of samples was 307 people who entered the study by available sampling method. In this study, 28-item background information and general health questionnaire was used. Descriptive and inferential statistics (Chi-square test and Spearman correlation coefficient) were used to analyze the data.
Results: The level of general health of 46.6% of caregivers was favorable, 46.6% was somewhat favorable and 6.8% was unfavorable. There was a significant relationship between caregivers' general health and family economic status (P = 0.001). There was also a significant relationship between caregivers 'general health and caregivers' education level (P = 0.033).
Conclusion: The family factor is one of the psychosocial factors that affects the clinical course of the disease and the outcome of the disease, including recurrence. And there is a close relationship between how the family communicates and the rate of disease recurrence. Therefore, nurses need to pay serious attention to the family (the main social unit)
Keywords: Mental Disorders, General Health, Caregivers