AbstractBackground: In the present era, mental disability is a major public health problem in the society. Many of the mental disabilities are correctable if detected early. Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness, which is stressful not only for patients, but also for caregivers. Purpose: To find out the correlation between the disability of the patients and burden of the caregivers. Methodology: Disability of the patients was measured by standardized IDEAS scale, and burden of the caregivers was measured by BASS standardized interview questionnaire. Results: Out of 210 samples, 7 (3.3%) Patients had No Disability, 126 (60%) Patients had Mild Disability, 31 (14.8%) Patients had Moderate Disability, 19 (9%) Patients had Severe Disability, 27 (12.9%) Patients had Profound Disability. The burden levels of caregivers were: 50 (23.8%) Caregivers had Mild Burden, 109 (51.9%) Caregivers had Moderate Burden, 51 (24.3%) Caregivers had Severe Burden. Conclusion: From the above results it shows that 20% Patients were having disability and 24% Caregivers were having Severe Burden Levels, so there is a need of educational programs for Schizophrenic Patients and their caregivers provide rehabilitation programs in community to decrease the disability levels.
Keywords: Disability; Burden; IDEAS; BASS; Schizophrenia; Caregivers.