Introduction Chronic mental illness is highly disabling and requires long‐term care. Caregivers play an essential role in the rehabilitation of chronic mental illness. Improving the health and well‐being of caregivers is becoming an increasingly important challenge worldwide. Caregiving can negatively affect caregivers’ subjective well‐being (SWB), and thus, the quality of care may be reduced. Data on caregivers’ SWB and associated factors appear lacking, but the need is growing. Objective This study aimed to clarify the factors associated with the SWB of caregivers of individuals with chronic mental illness in Turkey. Methods In this cross‐sectional study, data were collected from a sample of 223 individuals who had been providing care to outpatients with chronic mental illness for at least six months in three hospitals in a province in western Turkey. The questionnaire included questions about caregiver and care recipient characteristics and caregiving characteristics. The subjective well‐being scale (SWBS) was used to assess the level of SWB of caregivers. Statistics included ordinal logistic regression analysis, ANOVA, Kruskal–Wallis, and chi‐square tests. Results The mean age of caregivers (58.3% female) was 44.7 ± 12.76 years. The mean score of caregivers on the SWBQ was 133.12 ± 36.11. The caregiver’s age, gender, health level, diagnosis of the care recipient, and duration of care were significantly associated with the level of SWB ( p < 0.05). Ordinal logistic regression analysis showed that the level of kinship, diagnosis of the care recipient, and gender were predictive factors for the level of SWB. Conclusions Caregivers’ SWB was influenced by demographic and caregiving‐related factors. Nurses should be attentive to the mental health needs of caregivers of individuals with chronic mental illness. These findings can guide psychiatric and rehabilitation nurses in supporting interventions to enhance caregivers’ SWB.
Harkin et al. (Thu,) studied this question.