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“Family Burnout” of psychiatric patients: its role during the COVID-19 pandemic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

F. Franza*
Affiliation:
Psychiatric Rehabilitation Centre Villa dei Pini, Psychiatry, Avellino, Italy
A. Vacca
Affiliation:
ASL Taranto, Mental Health Department, Taranto, Italy
M.V. Minò
Affiliation:
Psychiatric Rehabilitation Centre Don Tonino Bello, Assoc Mitag, Brindisi, Italy
B. Solomita
Affiliation:
Psychiatric Rehabilitation Centre Villa dei Pini, Psychiatry, Avellino, Italy
F. Papa
Affiliation:
Neamente Association, Neuroscience, Mercogliano (AV), Italy
A. De Paola
Affiliation:
Neamente Association, Neuroscience, Mercogliano (AV), Italy
A. Franza
Affiliation:
Neamente Association, Neuroscience, Mercogliano (AV), Italy
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Family members caregivers (FMCs) of patients with severe psychiatric disorders (SMPD) are subjected to a complex system of fatigue and stress. FMCs can be subjected to a care burden defined as “Family Burnout”. Caring of family members of patients affected by psychiatric disorder suffered an additional burden during the pandemic period.

Objectives

To investigate the stress, burnout and compassion fatigue in FMCs during the pandemic vs non-pandemic period.

Methods

In our observational study we recruited family members (FMCs) of SMPDs (DSM-5). The severity was assessed with BPRS > 31; from March 2021 to July 2021 (T1), in 66 FMCs (38 females, 28 men) that completed following questionnaires: CBI (Caregiver Burden Inventory), ProQOL (compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue (burnout and secondary trauma) subscales]. These data (T1) were compared with the scores obtained in the same family members in 2019 (T0) in a pre-pandemic period.

Results

ProQOL data /T1) have a higher total score than those observed in a previous study (T0). They show a lower main score in Compassion Satisfaction (CS) subscale [T1 vs T0; 34.27 vs 38.89 (p < .00.5). CS subscale T0 vs T1= 34.84% vs 12.12%). High levels of burnout were found in 28.79% (T1) vs 13.64% (T0) of FMCs group. Similar results showed in the Secondary Trauma subscale and CBI with higher scores in T1 vs T0.

Conclusions

The comparative mean results (2019 vs 2021) showed that in the same group of FMCs, the mean values obtained with same scales were higher during the lockdown. During health crisis, FMCs of psychiatric patients are subjected to high levels of stress.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Type
Abstract
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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