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The following is a summary of “Care Burden and Associated Factors Among Caregivers of Patients with Bipolar Type I Disorder,” published in the September 2024 issue of Primary Care by Mirhosseini et al.

For a study, researchers aimed to explore the relationship between the care burden of family caregivers of patients with Bipolar Type I Disorder (BD-I) and associated factors such as resilience and optimism. They used a cross-sectional design and surveyed 209 family caregivers of patients with BD-I. Data were gathered with the Zarit Burden Inventory (ZBI), Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), and Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R). Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data, with a significance level set at 0.05.

The average age of the caregivers was 45.4 years, while the patients had an average age of 36.7 years. Caregivers reported a moderate average burden score of 41.9. Key predictors of caregiver burden included caregiver-related factors such as optimism (p < 0.001, β = 0.25) and employment status (housewife: p = 0.038, β = 0.43; self-employed: p = 0.007, β = 0.12; retired: p < 0.001, β = 0.23). Patient-related factors influencing caregiver burden included the presence of psychotic symptoms (p < 0.001, β = 0.33), daily caregiving hours (p < 0.001, β = 0.16), a history of suicide attempts (p = 0.035, β = 0.43), and alcohol consumption (p < 0.001, β = 0.85). These factors collectively accounted for 58.3% of the variance in caregiver burden scores.

The study concluded that family caregivers of patients with BD-I experience moderate levels of caregiver burden and low resilience, influenced by personal and patient-related factors. Researchers recommended psychological education and supported interventions within mental health frameworks to help alleviate caregiver burden.

Source: bmcprimcare.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12875-024-02583-2