1. Objectifs

Intentions :
« The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships of primary and secondary stressors, perceived support from family members and friends, and perceived support from mental health services offered to relatives with psychiatric disabilities, to the psychological distress of family caregivers, controlling for background variables. » (p. 593)
Questions/Hypothèses :
« Four hypotheses were tested. The first and second hypotheses addressed the roles of stressors in exacerbating the psychological distress of caregivers. The third and fourth hypotheses concerned the role of informal and formal support in reducing psychological distress of caregivers.
1. Problematic behaviours and caregiving tasks will be positively and significantly related to psychological distress, controlling for background variables.
2. Objective and subjective burdens will be positively and significantly related to psychological distress, controlling for background variables.
3. Support provided by family members and friends will be negatively and significantly related to psychological distress, controlling for background variables.
4. Support provided by the formal network, including the help offered to the ill relatives by mental health providers, the caregiver’s satisfaction with the mental health services offered to the ill relatives, the number of contacts between the caregivers and their ill relatives’ primary mental health providers, the ill relatives’ met needs in mental health resources, and the accessibility of mental health resources for the ill relatives, will be negatively and significantly related to psychological distress, controlling for background variables. » (pp. 594-595)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
« The final sample consisted of 154 primary caregivers. Almost all the caregivers (94%) spoke French at home. The vast majority of caregivers were female (85%). The mean age was 54 years (SD = 9.63, n = 153). » (p. 595)

Instruments :
- the Psychiatric Symptom Index (Ilfeld, 1976);
- the Client Behaviours Scale (CBS : Reinhard, 1994);
- the Caregiving Task Scale (CTS : Pickett et al., 1995);
- the Burden Assesssment Scale (BAS : Reinhard, 1994);
- the Perceived Social Support from Family and Friends (PSS-Fa and PSSFr : Procidano & Heller 1983);
- Perceived Support from Clinicians (PSC);
- the Opinion Questionnaire on Outpatient Services (OQOS : Perreault et al. 2001);
- the Inventory of Mental Health Resources (IMHR);
- Guide d’entretien.
Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique et analyse de contenu

3. Résumé

« The purpose of the study was to determine the relationships of primary and secondary stressors, and informal and formal supports, to psychological distress in 154 family caregivers of persons with psychiatric disabilities. All caregivers were members of self-help groups located in the Province of Quebec in Canada. Psychological distress was significantly lower among older caregivers, those working full time, and those experiencing lower objective and subjective burdens. Contrary to the hypotheses, caregivers who perceived more support from friends and had more contacts with their relatives’ primary mental health providers experienced a higher level of psychological distress. » (p. 592)