Gender-specific aspects of mothers and fathers caring for a schizophrenia patient

Background/Objectives: Nearly all studies of family carers of schizophrenia patients used the concept of the „key relative“, meaning the relative spending the highest number of hours in contact with the patient. This concept assumes implicitly that the „key relative“ is the relative having the central role in caring for the patient, and as a result having the highest burden and the highest needs. But, most studies included only one care-giving relative of each patient, usually the patients’ mothers. The purpose of this study was to investigate differences between mothers and fathers caring for a schizophrenia pa…