Quality of Life of Caregivers of Addicts

Psychiatric Assessment and Quality of Life of Family Caregivers of Addicts

American Society of Addiction Medicine defined Addiction as a treatable, chronic medical disease involving complex interactions among brain circuits, genetics, the environment, and an individual's life experiences. People with addiction use substances or engage in behaviors that become compulsive and often continue despite harmful consequences.

Addiction is considered as a "family disease." Addiction affects the individual as well as those around them in terms of occupational and social dysfunction, physical and emotional distress, and financial burden which has a serious impact on the lives of the significant others.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Addiction
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: 1-WHOQOL-BREF(WHO-Quality of life-BREFF) Arabic version Scale; Other: SCL-90-R(Symptoms Checklist-90-Revised) Arabic version scale; Other: addiction severity index

Detailed Description

Addiction is a multifaceted problem- it negatively alters the quality of life of not only addicts but also the family members who live with them. Caregiving to an individual suffering from addiction is physically, mentally, socially and emotionally challenging. These caregivers are most burdened as the assistance they provide is multidimensional.

The Quality of Life Group of the World Health Organization (WHO) Division of Mental Health has defined QOL as "an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value system in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards, and concerns " .

Family members are not all equally affected and they suffer in different degrees based on their closeness to the addict and distance from the addict's behavior. Most of the time, a member of the family assumes the role of caregiver, and he or she is most burdened from this process.

The Family Caregiver Alliance (2014) defines family (or informal) caregivers as "any relative, partner, friend, or neighbor who has a significant personal relationship with, and provides a broad range of assistance for, an older person or an adult with a chronic or disabling condition" .

Researchers have described addiction as one of the significant causes of family destruction and disturbed relationship.Family relationships are at risk owing to addiction and associated hazards. Researches addressing the health issues of families have reported numerous mental health problems among children and spouses of addicts. A study has depicted children of addict fathers experiencing depression, anxiety and hypomania. Children of addicts also suffered from different internalised and externalised problem in men.

However, published studies on family caregivers of addicts are limited. This study aimed to evaluate QOL and psychiatric symptoms in family caregivers of addicts.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 160

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: ALaa EL-DIN Mohamed darweesh, MD; Phone Number: 01005279326; Email: assiutbird25@yahoo.com
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Mohamed Fawzy Mohamed, AP; Phone Number: 01014363839; Email: fawzy_re29@yahoo.com

Study Locations

• Egypt
  • Assiut, Egypt, 71515
    • Assiut University
    • Contact: Vice president of graduate studies Of Assiut University; Phone Number: +2088 22080150; Email: vp_grad@aun.edu.eg

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

Family caregivers of addicts who come to an addiction clinic and unit of neuropsychiatry hospital of assiut university hospital

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• As defined by The Family Caregiver Alliance (2014) "any relative, partner, friend, or neighbor who has a significant personal relationship with, and provides a broad range of assistance for, an older person or an adult with a chronic or disabling condition" .
• aged ≥18 years old.
• being a family caregiver for more than three months (considered the minimum time for the caregivers to be able to feel the effects of care).
• living or residing near the drug-dependent.

Exclusion Criteria:

• who stopped living in the city
• the presence of previous psychiatric illness and caregiver who was also addicts. • Refuse to participate in the research

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Observational Models: Other
• Time Perspectives: Cross-Sectional

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
quality of life evaluation	evaluation of quality of life by WHO-QOL-BREFF scale	2 weeks
psychiatric symptoms	evaluation of psychiatric symptoms by Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R)	12-15 minutes

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Assiut University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Saleh Ahmed Mahmoud, Resident, Assiut University; Study Chair: ALaa EL-DIN Mohamed darweesh, MD, Assiut University; Study Director: Mohamed Fawzy Mohamed, AP, Assiut University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Vaishnavi R, Karthik MS, Balakrishnan R, Sathianathan R. Caregiver Burden in Alcohol Dependence Syndrome. J Addict. 2017;2017:8934712. doi: 10.1155/2017/8934712. Epub 2017 May 21.
• The World Health Organization Quality of Life assessment (WHOQOL): position paper from the World Health Organization. Soc Sci Med. 1995 Nov;41(10):1403-9. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(95)00112-k.
• Settley C. The physical and psychological wellbeing of caregivers of individuals suffering from substance addiction. Arch Psychiatr Nurs. 2020 Jun;34(3):107-109. doi: 10.1016/j.apnu.2020.03.007. Epub 2020 Mar 12.
• Rafiq M, Sadiq R. Caregiver Stress, Perceived Stigma and Mental Health in Female Family Members of Drug Addicts: Correlational Study. J Pak Med Assoc. 2019 Sep;69(9):1300-1303.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Anticipated): January 1, 2023
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): August 1, 2023
• Study Completion (Anticipated): October 1, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 10, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 10, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): October 22, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 3, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 29, 2022
• Last Verified: December 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: qolfc

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: Undecided

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No