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Stressors and common mental disorder in informal carers--an analysis of the English Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2007.

Stansfeld, S; Smuk, M; Onwumere, J; Clark, C; Pike, C; McManus, S; Harris, J; Bebbington, P (2014) Stressors and common mental disorder in informal carers--an analysis of the English Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2007. Soc Sci Med, 120. pp. 190-198. ISSN 1873-5347 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.09.025
SGUL Authors: Clark, Charlotte Elizabeth Sarah

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Abstract

This study investigates potential explanations of the association between caring and common mental disorder, using the English Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2007. We examined whether carers are more exposed to other stressors additional to caring--such as domestic violence and debt--and if so whether this explains their elevated rates of mental disorder. We analysed differences between carers and non-carers in common mental disorders (CMD), suicidal thoughts, suicidal attempts, recent stressors, social support, and social participation. We used multivariate models to investigate whether differences between carers and non-carers in identifiable stressors and supports explained the association between caring and CMD, as measured by the revised Clinical Interview Schedule. The prevalence of CMD (OR=1.64 95% CI 1.37-1.97), suicidal thoughts in the last week (OR=2.71 95% CI 1.31-5.62) and fatigue (OR=1.33 95% CI 1.14-1.54) was increased in carers. However, caring remained independently associated with CMD (OR=1.58 1.30-1.91) after adjustment for other stressors and social support. Thus caring itself is associated with increased risk of CMD that is not explained by other identified social stressors. Carers should be recognized as being at increased risk of CMD independent of the other life stressors they have to deal with. Interventions aimed at a direct reduction of the stressfulness of caring are indicated. However, carers also reported higher rates of debt problems and domestic violence and perceived social support was slightly lower in carers than in non-carers. So carers are also more likely to experience stressors other than caring and it is likely that they will need support not only aimed at their caring role, but also at other aspects of their lives.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
Keywords: Carers, Common mental disorders, Mental health, Social support, Socioeconomic status, Stress, Suicide, Adult, Aged, Caregivers, England, Female, Health Surveys, Humans, Male, Mental Disorders, Middle Aged, Odds Ratio, Social Class, Social Support, Stress, Psychological, Humans, Health Surveys, Odds Ratio, Stress, Psychological, Mental Disorders, Social Class, Social Support, Adult, Aged, Middle Aged, Caregivers, England, Female, Male, Public Health, 1117 Public Health and Health Services, 1601 Anthropology, 1608 Sociology
SGUL Research Institute / Research Centre: Academic Structure > Population Health Research Institute (INPH)
Journal or Publication Title: Soc Sci Med
ISSN: 1873-5347
Language: eng
Dates:
DateEvent
November 2014Published
16 September 2014Published Online
14 September 2014Accepted
Publisher License: Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0
Projects:
Project IDFunderFunder ID
UNSPECIFIEDDepartment of HealthUNSPECIFIED
PubMed ID: 25259657
Go to PubMed abstract
URI: https://openaccess.sgul.ac.uk/id/eprint/113937
Publisher's version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.09.025

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