[Profile and risk of mental illness in caregivers for home care patients]

To determine the profile of caregivers for patients in home hospitalization, and to investigate morbidity and strain in caregivers.

Descriptive, cross-sectional study based on personal interviews.Setting. Health area in the community (autonomous region) of Valencia (Eastern Spain). PARTICIPANTD: Systematic sampling was used to select 215 caregivers who took care of home-hospitalized patients during the year 2001.

Personal interview at home with a questionnaire that contained items on descriptive variables, psychological well-being (Goldberg Anxiety and Depression scale), social support (Duke-UNC Functional Social Support Questionnaire), caregiver strain index and profile of the care receiver.

The typical caregiver was a 55-year-old woman who was a first-degree relative of the patient, with primary level education, who formed part of a normally functional family and who received good social support. Anxiety was found in 32%, depression in 22% and a high strain index in 11%. The patient was typically a 70-year-old man with chronic disease, a high degree of dependence and good mental status. Correlation analysis showed that the risk of anxiety, depression and strain in caretakers increased with the patient's degree of physical dependence and mental deterioration, and with lower degrees of social support and longer periods devoted to caregiving. The risk of anxiety and depression increased as the strain index and familial dysfunction increased. Strain index was the factor that explained most of the variability in anxiety and depression.

Feelings of psychological distress (anxiety and depression) and strain were common among caregivers. Care for caregivers should form part of the measures to provide care to patients.