Caregiver burden and resilience in family members of alcohol dependence patients: a study in rural South India

Objectives: Alcohol dependence is a detrimental disease to a person, family, and society. Family support is intrinsically essential for the successful treatment of an alcohol-dependent patient. Family members face substantial subjective and objective crisis as their caretakers. We aimed to determine the extent of burden and resilience among the caregivers of Alcohol dependent patients and the correlation between the two determinants. Methodology: A cross-sectional, observational study enrolling 101 Alcohol Dependence Syndrome (ADS) patients was performed. Valid scales namely the Burden Scale for Family Caregivers (BSFC), Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire (SADQ), and Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) was administered. The data collected were statistically analysed using SPSS 16. Results: Majority of patients, 46.53% were Moderately dependent, 60.40% of the caregivers faced Moderate burden and 56.44% of them showed lower resilience. Correlation between caregiver burden and severity of dependence showed that the majority -45.90% faced a moderate burden with Severe dependence. Co-relation of caregiver resilience with Caregiver Burden showed that 29.12% scored <2.5 in the Severe ADS group. Conclusion: Although majority had moderate burden and moderate levels of dependence, resilience in caregivers was found to be poor. Severity of dependence was significantly related to poorer resilience in caregivers.