Psychological Correlates of Burden Among Jordanian Caregivers of Patients With Serious Mental Illness

PURPOSE To examine prediction power of personality traits, expressed emotion, and coping strategies on caregivers' burden. DESIGNS AND METHODS Cross-sectional descriptive correlational design was used to collect data from 196 caregivers using the Self-Administered Questionnaire from Jordanian caregivers of patients with serious mental illness. FINDINGS Jordanian caregivers had a moderate-to-severe burden level (M = 47.1, SD = 11.5). Burden had a significant negative relationship with coping (r = -.15, p = .04) and significant positive relationship with personality dysfunction (r = .16, p = .021). Emotional expression, coping, and personality were found to be significant predictors of burden (F = 5.16, p = .002). PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS Mental health professionals need to address family caregivers in their plans of care.