Prevalence of depression and anxiety in caregivers of patients in psychiatric wards (2006)

Paying attention to mental health status of family members and caregivers of the patients with mental disorders is really of importance regarding its pivotal role on controlling and prevention of the disease and its recurrence. In addition, it may have a role on the public mental health status and prevention of mental disorders in patient's family members. In this study, we aimed to assess the prevalence and severity of depression and anxiety in caregivers of the patients in psychiatric wards. We designed a descriptive study. In this study, 307 samples were achieved from all caregivers of patients in psychiatric wards of Noor hospital. We used questionnaires of Beck depression test and Zong anxiety scale. Data analysis was performed using t-test and correlation test by SPSS software. Using Beck and Zong test, our data showed %71 and 7/9% of caregivers had some degrees of depression and anxiety, respectively. We found statistical meaningful correlations between sex of the patients and severity of depression in caregivers (P<0.018), sex of the patients and severity of anxiety in caregivers (P<0.007), between sex and severity of in caregivers (p<0.05), and also sex and severity of anxiety in caregivers (P<0.05). There was no significant correlation between duration of hospitalization and severity of depression (P=0.47, R=0.042) and anxiety (P=0.97, R-0.002) in caregivers. Finally we did not find any significant difference between anxiety and depression scores of caregivers and type of the patient mental disorder. Anxiety and depression are more common in caregivers of the psychiatric wards in comparison to normal population. This anxiety may load to harmful effects on the management of patients discase. Besides that, more prevalent anxiety and depression in female caregivers and those whose patients are female makes it more important to pay special attention to female depression and anxiety.