The attempt was made to investigate the relationship between patients' impaired role performance within their families and the burden on caregivers.

128 patients suffering either from schizophrenia, depression or anxiety were interviewed upon admission to the mental hospital using Groningen Social Disability Schedule (GSDS). Their caregivers who lived with them were asked to fill in the Involvement Evaluation Questionnaire (IEQ). The following GSDS roles were considered: “self-care”, “contribution to family atmosphere and economic independence”, “kinship – parents and siblings”, “parental role”, “relationship with partner”, “quality of social contacts”. Patients were classified as disabled/not disabled in a given role. Caregivers' burden dimensions i.e.: “worrying”, “tension”, “urging” and “supervision” were measured according to patients' disability status. Statistics included Mann-Whitney's and t Student's tests.

Only disabilities in some roles were associated with higher caregiver's burden: neglected personal care resulted in higher “urging”, withdrawal from family life led to higher “tension” whereas lack of adequate contribution to the family's economic independence did not. Disability in parental role proved to be a family's “trouble spot” and led to high “tension” and “supervision” in spouses. Surprisingly, impaired relationships with partner, siblings and parents as well as disturbed social contacts were not associated with higher burden.

Disability in parental role may be an important factor contributing to the higher burden on patient's spouse. Helping strategies for families with mental illness and children should consider this fact, should also aim at improving patient's self-care and their emotional input to family climate.