Altaf Hussain, Syeda Ranna Fatima, Waqar S H, Zainab Mujahid, Madiha Fatima, Haider Mehmood, Muhammad Ali Abbas.
Psychological Distress Among Primary Care Givers of Tuberculous Patients at TB Sanatorium Kotri & Hyderabad.
Ann Pak Inst Med Sci Jan ;14(1):37-41.

Objective: To study the psychological health of the primary caregivers of TB patients. Methodology: This is cross-sectional descriptive study done from July 2015 to October 2015 at TB Sanatorium Kotri and TB Sanatorium Hyderabad. A sample of 158 self-professed primary caregivers chosen via convenience sampling after taking informed consent. Caregiver psychological distress was measured using interview based structured questionnaire which included the 42 point DAS scale (Urdu version). Results: Majority of respondents were male (60.8%), educated (78.5%) and living in joint families (57%). Caregivers mainly belonged to lower (35.4%) and middle (54.5%) economic class. Health worries (both personal and those related to the patient), emotional fatigue due to long and strict treatment regimen, decreased quality of life and uncertainty of positive treatment outcome were the main factors significantly weighing down psychological health of primary caregivers. Moderate mean levels of Depression (16.1), Anxiety (10.4) and Stress (19.1) were noted. Conclusion: Psychological wellbeing of the primary caregivers should be given adequate attention and psychiatric counselling should be provided to the caregivers so they may be better able to tend to the patients.

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