Family Caregivers’ Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Related to Disability Certification for Persons with Schizophrenia
Ravi Sunil, Jesson Paulson Illimoottil, Naveen Kolloju, Suja Kurian, Grace Rebekah, Dheeraj KattulaAbstract
Background:
Schizophrenia causes disability warranting care and rehabilitation in a proportion of those affected. The Government of India introduced the schemes for the benefit of those with disability. Poor knowledge about these schemes among caregivers limits access to them.
Aim:
This study estimated disability among persons with schizophrenia and knowledge, attitude, and practice related to the government initiatives to assist those with the disability among their caregivers.
Setting and Design:
The study was done among outpatients on treatment for schizophrenia attending the department of psychiatry of a tertiary care hospital.
Methods:
This cross-sectional study assessed persons with schizophrenia for their socio-demographic details, disability scores using Indian Disability Evaluation and Assessment Scale, and their caregivers for knowledge, attitude, and practice about disability schemes. Statistical analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software (SPSS) for Windows.
Results:
One hundred and four caregiver-patient pairs were studied. Only 24% of the caregivers were aware of the disability schemes. Among 104 patients with schizophrenia, four were receiving benefits.
Conclusion:
Disability scores among the majority of patients with schizophrenia were of the moderate category. The gap in the caregiver’s knowledge regarding disability schemes and practice needs improvement at various levels, from the clinical bench to government policies. The study’s strength is that it is one of the very few studies among caregivers and the limitations are of a cross-sectional design. The knowledge scales are adapted from a review article.