The relationship between coping style and burden in the carers of relatives with schizophrenia

The development of a questionnaire to measure the coping style of people caring for a relative with schizophrenia is described. Data on the psychometric properties of this questionnaire are reported for a sample of 91 carers. It is shown that coping style is associated with carer burden and psychological distress. In particular, the coping styles 'collusion', 'criticism/coercion', 'overprotectiveness', 'emotional over-involvement' and 'resignation' were found to be associated with higher levels of carer burden, and the coping style 'warmth' was found to be associated with lower levels of carer burden.