Objectives. As a disease typified by early onset and chronic disease course, caring for a person with schizophrenia may have a significant impact on caregivers’ lives. This study aimed to investigate the subjective experiences of caregivers of people with schizophrenia as a means of understanding “caregiver burden” in this population. Methods. Face-to-face qualitative interviews were conducted with a diverse sample of 19 US-English speaking caregivers of people with schizophrenia (who were at least moderately ill). Interview transcripts were analyzed using grounded theory methods and findings used to inform the development of a preliminary conceptual model outlining caregivers’ experiences. Results. Findings support assertions that people with schizophrenia were largely dependent upon caregivers for the provision of care and caregivers subsequently reported lacking time for themselves and their other responsibilities (e.g., family and work). Caregiver burden frequently manifested as detriments in physical (e.g., fatigue, sickness) and emotional well-being (e.g., depression and anxiety). Conclusions. Caring for a person with schizophrenia has a significant impact on the lives of informal (unpaid) caregivers and alleviating caregiver burden is critical for managing individual and societal costs. Future research should concentrate on establishing reliable and valid means of assessing burden among caregivers of persons with schizophrenia to inform the development and evaluation of interventions for reducing this burden. 1. Introduction Over the past 50 years, as evidenced by the closure of mental hospitals and advent of community-based care, there has been transition of care for schizophrenia patients from formal hospital-based healthcare systems to outpatient and community services. The financial burden (in terms of direct and indirect costs) of community-dwelling patients with schizophrenia is high with estimated annual costs in the US of $23 billion [1]. It is estimated that 50–90% of people with chronic psychiatric illness live with their families or friends [2, 3] and informal caregivers (i.e., “a person who has significant responsibility for managing the well-being of a person diagnosed with schizophrenia in an unpaid capacity”) [4] provide an important service by reducing need for formal care and burden upon healthcare systems [5]. This is true not just of schizophrenia but also of other medical conditions such as stroke [6], cancer [7] and dementia [8], with estimates in 2011 suggesting that the economic value of all informal caregivers’ unpaid
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