International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences | June 2020 | Vol 8 | Issue 6 Page 2140 International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences Sharma S et al. Int J Res Med Sci. 2020 Jun;8(6):2140-2148 www.msjonline.org pISSN 2320-6071 | eISSN 2320-6012 Original Research Article Comparison of stressful life events among family caregivers of cancer, mental retardation and schizophrenia patients leading to stress, anxiety and depression and its effect on quality of life Sandeep Sharma, Anant K. Rathi*, Kamal K. Verma, Divya Bishnoi INTRODUCTION Care giving and care receiving can occur at any point in the life-course and is typically associated with chronic illnesses or disabilities. It results in loss of independence and disturbance in proper day-to-day functioning of the caregiver. There is no standard definition of family care giving which can be used consistently from one study to another. 1 What the term care giving means is not always clear and frequently varies with the purpose for which such definitions are used. 2 Focus on the role of family in the life of a person with different physical or mental disorders has been dual. Earlier the focus had been on the possible etiological role of the family in disease, now it seems to be a paradigm shift and family now is being perceived as a “reactor” to disease of a member. 3 Family is the main source of support for the persons with disabilities in any society. 4 With advancement in the medical sciences in prolonging the life of a diseased person and increasing change in health policies to integrate the persons with illness in the community, family care giver has now become a major Department of Psychiatry, S. P. Medical College, Bikaner, Rajasthan, India Received: 22 March 2020 Accepted: 28 April 2020 *Correspondence: Dr. Anant K. Rathi, E-mail: anantkumarrathi@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT Background: Mental retardation (MR), schizophrenia and cancer are chronic disorders, requiring long term treatment along with family support. Principal caregiver is usually nonprofessional family person who play a pivotal role in supporting the patient medically, emotionally and financially which in turn affects their own health and quality of life. To identify stressful life events, level of anxiety, stress, depression and Quality of life in these family caregivers (FC), this study was planned. Methods: After gaining consent, the FC were assessed on Presumptive Stressful Life Events Scale (PSLE), Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS) and WHO Quality of Life -Bref Scale (WHOQOL-Bref). Data so gained was analyzed by SPSS-21 and results were drawn. Results: 66 FC of cancer patients, 39 FC of MR patients and 53 FC of Schizophrenia patients were assessed. All three groups were found to be matched socio-demographically. On PSLE Mean of total stressful life events for cancer FC was 7±1.5, for MR 6.02±1.5 and for schizophrenia FC was 5.75±1.70 and this difference was statistically significant. Mean of total undesirable life events was 5.31±1.3, 4.33±1.34 and 3.86±1.46 respectively and this difference was also statistically significant. Similarly difference in mean stress score of total life events and for undesirable events was also statistically significant. On DASS scale no statistically significant difference was found within the groups. Quality of life was significantly low depicting high impact on physical health and social life of these care givers. Conclusions: Family Caregivers of cancer, mental retardation and schizophrenia groups are highly affected and there is urgent need to address these issues for early diagnosis and treatment. Keywords: Anxiety, DASS, Depression, Family Caregivers, PSLE, Stress, WHOQOL-BREF DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20202257