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Satisfaction of Caregivers of Patients With Schizophrenia in Finland

OBJECTIVE: The aims of the study were to determine whether the caregivers of discharged patients with schizophrenia were satisfied with their situation in general and with psychiatric services in particular and to examine the factors associated with caregiver satisfaction. METHODS: The data were drawn from a national project designed to study the treatment and life situation of deinstitutionalized schizophrenia patients in Finland. The patients were discharged from psychiatric hospitals in 1986, and both the patients (N=775) and their caregivers (N=545) were interviewed after a three-year follow-up. RESULTS: One-fifth of the caregivers were dissatisfied with the situation in general, and one-third were dissatisfied with the psychiatric services the patient received. Caregivers were more likely to be dissatisfied with the situation if they lived with the patient and if the patient's functional state was poor or the patient's use of services, particularly medication and rehabilitation, was low. Caregivers were likely to be dissatisfied with the psychiatric services if the patient had severe psychotic symptoms and poor "maintenance of grip on life" or if the patient was given less psychiatric care and rehabilitation or used more social services. CONCLUSIONS: The satisfaction of caregivers of persons with mental illness appears to have two dimensions. First, caregivers need to be accepted and treated as active partners in the patients' care and rehabilitation. Second, the burden on the families of persons with mental illness can be alleviated with long-term rehabilitation and care to help patients gain as high a functional state as possible.

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