Socio-economic status, perceived stigma and coping Strategies among the caregivers of people with mental illness

Abstract

The study sought to examine the relationship between socioeconomic status, perceived stigma and coping strategies among caregivers of people with mental illness. In Uganda, coping has been is a great challenge among caregivers of people with mental illness. This was a cross-sectional and comparative study approach which involved quantitative methods of data collection and analysis. Research variables were measured and the data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS version 23). The results indicated that there was no significant relationship between socio-economic status and coping strategies. They further revealed that there was no significant relationship between the caregivers’ socio-economic status and perceived stigma. Additionally, study results indicated that perceived stigma is not significantly related to the caregivers’ coping strategies, while both socio-economic status and coping strategies of caregivers are not significantly moderated by perceived stigma (P= .081; F = 1.553). However, the results showed that the caregivers’ gender has no significant difference in the adaptation of coping strategies (F=.487, P=.381). Over all, there is no association that was found between SES, perceived stigma and coping strategies of care takers. Whereas the verdicts find no substantial relationship between the study variables, more approaches and strategies need to be developed to break the bias so that caregivers of people with mental illness are free to come out and help those that are critically ill.