Psychosocial Determinants of Quality of Life and Mental Health Status of Caregivers of Children with Psychopathologies in Lagos Nigeria

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate the relationship between Quality of Life (QoL) and psychosocial health status of caregivers of children living with diagnosed psychological disorder. A total of 309 caregivers of children with psychological disorders using a Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital in  Nigeria (mean age = 41.2 years) were purposively selected during clinic appointment days and responded to Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI), Multidimensional Scale of Social Support (MSPSS), The World Health Organization Quality of Life - Brief (WHOQOL-BREF) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The result revealed that burden of care and social support were significant joint  predictors of the Quality Of Life of the participants (R2= .040, p = .003), age of caregiver, duration of marriage of caregiver, child age and duration of care failed to jointly significantly predict the quality of life of caregiver  (R2= .013, p = .424), but significantly predicted the psychological health of the caregivers (R2= .084, p = .000).Social support had strong beta contribution on QoL while age of caregiver had significant beta contribution on psychological health of the caregivers.