Cultural aspects of caregiver burden in psychiatric disorders

作     者：Subho Chakrabarti 

作者机构：Department of Psychiatry Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research Chandigarh 160012 India 

出 版 物：《World Journal of Psychiatry》 (世界精神病学杂志)

年 卷 期：2013年第3卷第4期

页      面：85-92页

学科分类：1011[医学-护理学（可授医学、理学学位）] 10[医学] 

主　　题：Culture Ethnicity Caregiving Caregiverburden Psychiatric disorders 

摘      要：Caring for a mentally ill family member is well known to be mostly a stressful, distressing and burdensome experience. The dominant model for examining the process of caregiving has been the stress-appraisalcoping paradigm, in which interactions between stressors, appraisals, coping, and various mediators produce the eventual outcomes in terms of distress or wellbeing among caregivers. Ethnic and cultural factors have traditionally received the least research attention as mediators of the caregiving process. However, a large body of accumulated research evidence has clearly demonstrated that culturally-defined values, norms, and roles are among the major determinants of the caregiving experience. This research is based mainly on cross-cultural comparisons between caregivers of minority ethnic groups residing in the West and the native Caucasian population. It has been supplemented, to a limited extent, by research carried out among caregivers belonging to different cultures and residing in their countries of origin. Most of this research has been carried out among caregivers of elderly people with dementia; other psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia have received much less attention. Results of this research have documented important differences in caregiving experiences and outcomes across cultural and ethnic groups. Cultural factors which could mediate these differences have been identified, and theories, which could provide a coherent framework to understand these differences, proposed. Though limited by methodological difficulties, this research has provided important insights into the impact of cultural and ethnic factors on the whole spectrum of the caregiving experiences. An improved understanding of the area is, nevertheless, required because it will eventually help in devising appropriate ways to reduce burden and distress among caregivers from diverse ethnic and cultural groups.