Studies have examined the impact of unpaid care on the mental health of caregivers in India. For instance, a case control study conducted in Northern India examined the perceived stress experienced by caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease type dementia (Anand et al., 2016). The study reported that when compared to caregivers of individuals with chronic illness, caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease type dementia had higher amounts of perceived stress. Similarly, Pattanayak and colleagues (2010) also examined the experiences of carers of people with Alzheimer’s type dementia. The authors found that caregivers experienced a moderate level of burden, with female caregivers in particular perceiving higher levels of burden with respect to their physical and mental health. Another study conducted in rural Tamil Nadu reported prevalence of depression among informal caregivers of older adults as 10.6% (Brinda et al., 2014). Behavioural issues (Jathana, Latha and Bhandary, 2010; Prince et al., 2012; Shaji et al., 2009; Shaji et al., 2003), time/duration spent on caregiving (Brinda et al., 2014; Jathana, Latha and Bhandary, 2011; Prince et al., 2012) and functional disability (Brinda et al., 2014; Sinha et al., 2017) were commonly found to be associated with caregiver strain/burden across studies in India.

References:

Anand, K., Dhikav, V., Sachdeva, A., & Mishra, P. (2016). Perceived caregiver stress in Alzheimer′s disease and mild cognitive impairment: A case control study. Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology, 19(1), 58. https://doi.org/10.4103/0972-2327.167695

Brinda, E. M., Rajkumar, A. P., Enemark, U., Attermann, J., & Jacob, K. (2014). Cost and burdenof informal caregiving of dependent older people in a rural Indian community. BMC Health Services Research, 14(1), 207. https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-14-207

Jathanna, R. P., KS, L., & Bhandary, P. V. (2011). Burden and coping in informal caregivers of persons with dementia: a cross sectional study. Online Journal of Health and Allied Sciences, 9(4).

Pattanayak, R. D., Jena, R., Tripathi, M., & Khandelwal, S. K. (2010). Assessment of burden in caregivers of Alzheimer’s disease from India. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 3(3), 112–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2010.06.002

Prince, M., Brodaty, H., Uwakwe, R., Acosta, D., Ferri, C. P., Guerra, M., … & Liu, Z. (2012). Strain and its correlates among carers of people with dementia in low-income and middle-income countries. A 10/66 Dementia Research Group population-based survey. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 27(7), 670–682. https://doi.org/10.1002/gps.2727

Shaji, K.S., George, R.K., Prince, M.J., Jacob, K.S., (2009). Behavioral symptoms and caregiver burden in dementia. Indian J. Psychiatry 51, 45–9. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5545.44905

Shaji, K. S., Smitha, K., Lal, K. P., Prince, M. J. (2003). Caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease: a qualitative study from the Indian 10/66 Dementia Research Network. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 18(1), 1–6.

Sinha, P., Desai, N. G., Prakash, O., Kushwaha, S., & Tripathi, C. B. (2017). Caregiver burden in Alzheimer-type dementia and psychosis: A comparative study from India. Asian journal of psychiatry, 26, 86-91.