The relationship between temperaments characteristics, care burdens, and coping styles in caregivers of psychotic patients

This study aimed to determine the relationship between temperaments, care burdens, and coping levels in caregivers of psychotic patients. The sample consisted of 160 caregivers of outpatients and inpatients who applied to the Gaziantep Şehitkamil State Hospital, Ersin Arslan Training and Research Hospital, Şehitkamil Community Mental Health Center, and Şahinbey Community Mental Health Center. Data were collected using a personal information form, the Ways of Coping Scale (WOCS), the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis (TEMPS-A), Pisa, Paris and San Diego -Autoquestionnaire (TEMPS-A) and the Zarit Caregiver Burden Scale (ZCBS). The data were analyzed through application of the Shapiro-Wilk test, the Kruskal-Wallis test, the Mann-Whitney U test and the Spearman's Rank Correlation Test in the IBM SPSS 24.0 package program. It was found that depressive temperament was the most common among caregivers, followed by anxious temperament. Depressive temperament was found in %26.3 (n = 42), cyclothymic temperament in %1.9 (n = 3), irritable temperament in % 3.8 (n = 6), and anxious temperament in %13.8 (n = 22) of the caregivers. It was determined that none of the caregivers has hyperthymic temperament. The mean total ZCBS score was 65.01±11.74 and was found to have a negative relationship with the WOCS subscales of self-confident approach and optimistic approach and a positive relationship with the WOCS subscale of helpless approach. Furthermore, it was observed that the total, ZCBS, score had a positive relationship with the depressive, cyclothymic, irritable, and anxiety subscales of the TEMPS-A Questionnaire and that care burden was related to the caregiver's coping strategies and temperaments. It is recommended, from the results obtained, that interventions determined based on caregivers' temperaments and negative coping strategies be developed to help caregivers adopt appropriate coping strategies and to reduce their burdens. Keywords: Psychotic Patient, Care Burden, Temperament, Coping, Psychiatric Nursing