Abstract
Background: Although caregivers are a crucial support in the recovery of patients with schizophrenia, little is known about how mutuality is related to health-related quality of life within the dyadic (patient and caregiver) context. This study aimed to investigate the dyadic relationship between mutuality and health-related quality of life in patients with schizophrenia and caregivers. Methods: A cross-sectional, correlational study was conducted with a sample of 133 dyads of patients with schizophrenia and caregivers. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired sample t-tests, Pearson’s product-moment correlations, and the Actor–Partner Interdependence Model. Results: Mutuality of patients was significantly higher than that of caregivers. Compared with caregivers, patients had significantly lower total scores for health-related quality of life. Patients’ and caregivers’ mutuality was related to their own health-related quality of life (actor effect) and their partners’ health-related quality of life (partner effect). Conclusion: Mutuality plays a critical role in health-related quality of life in dyads of patients with schizophrenia and caregivers. Viewing a dyad as a unit of nursing care reveals a promising approach for developing recovery-oriented modalities targeted at stimulating mutuality that may enhance health-related quality of life for both patients and caregivers.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 2438 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-9 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 01 03 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Keywords
- Actor– partner interdependence model
- Health-related quality of life
- Mutuality
- Patient–caregiver dyads
- Schizophrenia
