The Influence of Social Support and Care Burden on Depression among Caregivers of Patients with Severe Mental Illness in Rural Areas of Sichuan, China

Xiaxia Sun, Jingjing Ge, Hongdao Meng, Zhiguo Chen and Danping Liu
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Xiaxia Sun: Department of Health Related Social and Behavioral Science, West China School of Public Health, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
Jingjing Ge: Department of Health Related Social and Behavioral Science, West China School of Public Health, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
Hongdao Meng: School of Aging Studies, College of Behavioral & Community Sciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA
Zhiguo Chen: Department of Biostatistics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
Danping Liu: Department of Health Related Social and Behavioral Science, West China School of Public Health, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 11, 1-12

Abstract: Depression is one of the most common psychological consequences of caregiving. Caring for patients with severe mental illness (SMI) adds significant challenges to family caregivers’ mental health. The purpose of this study was to describe the prevalence of depression among caregivers of SMI patients in rural areas of Sichuan province of China, to examine the influence of social support and care burden on depression, and to explore the intermediary effect of care burden between social support and depression among caregivers of SMI patients. Data were collected from 256 primary caregivers of SMI patients in rural Sichuan Province in China. We used structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the hypothesized relationship among the variables. We found that a total of 53.5% of caregivers had depression. Both care burden (β = 0.599, 95%CI: 0.392–0.776) and social support (β = −0.307, 95%CI: (−0.494)–(−0.115)) were directly related to depression, while social support had a direct association with care burden (β = −0.506, 95%CI: (−0.672)–(−0.341)). Care burden mediated the relationship between social support and depression. For the socio-demographic variables, gender, education level and per capita annual income of household had significant correlations with depression ( p < 0.05). The results strongly demonstrated that social support and care burden were predictors of depression, especially social support. Policymakers should fully recognize the role of primary family caregivers in caring for SMI patients and promote interventions to decrease care burden and reduce caregivers’ depression by improving social support and network. More attention should be given to female caregivers and caregivers with lower education and lower household income levels.

Keywords: primary caregivers; care burden; social support; depression; severe mental illness; rural areas (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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