Objectives: The effect of caring for a family member who suffers from a chronic mental disorder is becoming an increasing public health concern. When the caregiver is a spouse, the marital relationships of the couples may also be affected. We aimed to determine the impactof caregiver burden on marital adjustment in spouses of patients with mental disorders.
Methods: This study was carried out between April 15 and July 15, 2019 with the participation of the spouses of psychiatric patients at the Kahramanmaras Necip Fazıl City Hospital and Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University. The diagnoses of the patients were depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, substance-alcohol abuse disorder, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and somatic symptom disorder. A total of 273 volunteering patient spouses were included in the sample group. Marital Adjustment Test (MAT) and Burden Inventory (BI) were used for assessment.
Results: Caregiver burden significantly predicted marital adjustment (β = -0.651, t = -14.052, p
Key words: Mental Disorder, Patients, Spouse, Caregiver, Burden, Marital Adjustment
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