Burden in family caregivers of people with schizophrenia: a literature review

Abstract

Introduction: the present work reviewed the literature on the developments regarding the burden of family caregivers of patients with schizophrenia, focusing on the concepts of “objective burden” and “subjective burden”. Materials & Methods: a bibliographic search was carried out in English, using the PubMed database. The following descriptors were used: “Family Caregiver”, “Schizophrenia” and “Burden”. The time range used was 2015 to 2021. Results & Discussion: the search yielded a total of 51 full articles. Throughout the literature, the importance of both objective and subjective burden on the health of the caregiver of patients with schizophrenia
and the possibilities of addressing it as an aspect of the treatment plan are noted. The importance of designing community-centered strategies is discussed, where the psychiatrist can give indications not only in relation to the
patient suffering from schizophrenia, but
also provide tools to their family caregivers for a favorable evolution.