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Background: Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness that greatly impacts the real-world functioning of patients. In India, caregivers are primarily responsible for their patients and function as their support system, often taking treatment decisions on their behalf. However, they may have insufficient knowledge of the illness, which can have a negative impact on their roles as effective caregivers. The knowledge of schizophrenia and its associations among caregivers has received very little research attention., Aim: To examine the knowledge of mental illness and its socio-demographic and psychosocial associations among caregivers of patients with schizophrenia. The objectives were to assess the knowledge of mental illness and its treatment in caregivers of patients with schizophrenia, to assess the socio-demographic and clinical associations of this knowledge, and to assess the caregivers' psychosocial variables associated with this knowledge., Methodology: This cross-sectional observational data was taken from a larger study carried out between August 2018 and January 2021 at an urban tertiary care hospital in the capital city of India. One hundred fifty-eight patients with schizophrenia and their caregivers (n=158) were taken using purposive sampling. Knowledge of Mental Illness Scale was used to evaluate the knowledge and understanding of the illness and its treatment among caregivers. Caregivers coming to this institution in New Delhi were also assessed with respect to their demographic variables, caregiving experience, family functioning, coping strategies, available social support, psychological distress, quality of life, and spiritual, religious, and personal beliefs. The assessment also included demographic and clinical variables of the patients., Results: Caregivers possessed relatively greater knowledge regarding the medication being taken (52.5%), its side effects (38%), and the diagnosis (36.1%). However, their knowledge was poorer with respect to the meaning and implications of the diagnosis (21.5%) and the purpose of the medication (10.1%). In multivariate regression analysis of these five domains with socio-demographic, clinical, and psychosocial variables; the knowledge of the diagnosis was associated with a family history of psychiatric illness in a second-degree relative, the total duration of treatment, and stigma in caregivers. The meaning of the diagnosis was associated with the environmental domain of quality of life and positive symptoms of the patient. Knowledge of medication was associated with the number of patient hospitalizations, caregivers supervising medications, caregiver age, and the total duration of illness. Knowledge of the purpose of medication was associated with the total duration of illness and patient positive symptoms. Knowledge of medication side effects was associated with the roles domain of family functioning, positive caregiving experience, patient negative symptoms, and the acceptance/redefinition domain of coping., Conclusion: A range of associations were examined in this study. Correct knowledge of schizophrenia is necessary to promote timely help-seeking, preventing a longer duration of untreated psychosis and a poor prognosis. In research, knowledge of illness is a construct with immense potential applicability. In patient care, this knowledge may help caregivers participate in treatment planning, improve patient functioning, and support their patients toward better functional outcomes., Competing Interests: Human subjects: Consent was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. Institute of Ethics Committee, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi issued approval Ref. No. IECPG-204/10.05.2018. Animal subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve animal subjects or tissue. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work., (Copyright © 2024, Kochhar et al.)

Background: Family caregivers provide essential support to their loved ones with schizophrenia with profound outcomes for themselves. The caregiver burden fails to consider the entire caregiving experience, which also incorporates positive aspects of caring. Many potentially significant variables are associated with this., Aim: To examine the correlates of the experience of caregiving in caregivers of patients with schizophrenia. The specific objectives were to examine the socio-demographic variables of the patients and caregivers, clinical variables of the patient, caregivers' knowledge of illness, caregivers' perspectives of family functioning, caregiver coping, their social support, psychological distress, quality of life, and their spirituality, religiosity and personal beliefs and the associations of these variables with the caregivers' experience of caregiving., Methods: This cross-sectional observational study was conducted between August 2018 and January 2021 at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India. One hundred and fifty-eight dyads of patients with schizophrenia and their family caregivers were recruited using purposive sampling. Experience of Caregiving Inventory was used to evaluate the caregiving experience. The caregivers were also assessed on socio-demographics, knowledge of illness, family functioning, coping, social support, general mental health, quality of life, and spiritual, religious, and personal beliefs. Patient socio-demographics and clinical variables were also assessed., Results: A negative experience of caregiving was reported by caregivers of patients who had higher positive or negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Impaired Communication, Roles, Affective Responsiveness, Affective Involvement, and General Functioning aspects of family functioning were associated with a negative experience of caregiving. Denial/blame and seeking social support as coping were also associated with a negative experience of caregiving. A negative experience of caregiving was significantly positively correlated with greater psychological distress and poorer quality of life. Greater inner peace was associated with a less negative experience of caregiving. Spiritual strength was associated with a more positive experience of caregiving. Knowledge of mental illness and caregiver social support were not significantly associated with the experience of caregiving., Conclusion: Experience of caregiving is a relevant construct, the understanding of which can help inform caregiver-directed interventions in the future. Specifically, family-based interventions, which include ameliorating patient symptomatology, improving the family environment, strengthening caregivers' coping strategies, attending to caregiver distress, and encouraging spirituality among caregivers, may lead to a less negative and more positive experience of caregiving; and a better quality of life for caregivers., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2024, Kochhar et al.)

Background and Aims: Caring for a person with schizophrenia entails considerable effort. The caregiving experience while caring for a person with schizophrenia has been described as both stressful and enriching. The literature on changes in caregiving experience with time has been fairly limited. The present analysis looks at the change in the caregiving experience of caregivers of patients with schizophrenia., Method: This study had a sample of 50 caregivers of patients with schizophrenia who were followed up after a period of 6 to 10 months. Caregiving experience, knowledge of the mental illness, family functioning, coping, social support, psychological distress, quality of life, and spiritual, religious, and personal beliefs were assessed at the two time points., Results: Among the negative caregiving experiences, caregivers' need for back-up and patient dependency reduced significantly at follow-up as compared to baseline, though total negative or positive experiences of caregiving did not show a significant difference. Knowledge about mental illness did not significantly increase at follow-up, though issues related to poor communication and affective involvement in family functioning reduced over the period of time. Coping and social support remained largely the same, while psychological distress was reduced. All domains of quality of life improved over the follow-up period, while the hope, optimism, and inner peace aspects of spiritual, religious, and personal beliefs improved with time., Conclusion: Some aspects of caregiving experiences may change with time. As caregivers become more adjusted to caregiving roles, their distress may reduce, and their quality of life may improve., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2024, Kochhar et al.)