Caring for a Mentally Ill Patient at Home, Mental Health, Religiosity, and Spirituality and Their Association With Family Caregivers’ Quality of Life in Lebanon

Chadia Haddad, PhD; Pascale Salameh, PhD; Souheil Hallit, PharmD, MSc, MPH, PhD; Hala Sacre, PharmD; Marwan Akel, PharmD, MPH, PhD; Sahar Obeid, PhD; Rabih Hallit, MD; Emmanuelle Awad, MSc; Semaan Semaan, MD

Prim Care Companion CNS Disord. 2023;25(4):22m03333

ABSTRACT

Objective: To evaluate the effect of depression, anxiety, stress, insomnia, work fatigue, religiosity, and spirituality on quality of life (QOL) among family caregivers of people with mental Illness and those who care for family members without mental illness.

Methods: A case-control study was conducted between July and September 2019 that enrolled 600 caregivers using a proportionate sample from all Lebanese governorates. Participants completed a 2-part questionnaire. The first part assessed sociodemographic and other characteristics and the second part comprised various scales including the Quality of Life 12-Item Short Form Health Survey, 9-Item Patient Health Questionnaire, Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 Item, Perceived Stress Scale, Work Fatigue Inventory, Lebanese Insomnia Scale, Mature Religiosity Scale, and Spirituality Index of Well-Being.

Results: Higher stress (P < .001), higher depression (P < .001), higher emotional work fatigue (P < .001), married parents compared to single (P = .026), having a child with an intellectual disability (P = .002), and sleep-wake disorders (P = .003) were significantly associated with lower physical QOL, whereas higher spirituality (P < .001) was associated with higher physical QOL. Higher insomnia (P = .01), higher anxiety (P = .017), higher mental work fatigue (P < .001), living with a patient having a mental psychiatric illness (P = .023), caregivers with a chronic disease (P = .040), and taking care of a child with depressive disorders (P = .027) were significantly associated with lower mental QOL, whereas higher spirituality was significantly associated with higher mental QOL.

Conclusions: The care of a person with mental illness involves multiple challenges and problems, leading to negative impacts on the familial caregivers’ mental health and magnified by the absence of sufficient support and awareness and training programs in Lebanon.

Prim Care Companion CNS Disord 2023;25(4):22m03333

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