In an era of limited resources for mental health care, family interventions need to
target areas where they are responsive to families' expressed needs. Although family
burden has been documented, less is known about the areas of concern that families
feel they need direct assistance with, to be effective caregivers. Telephone interviews
were conducted with 30 family members of mentally ill relatives. Burden, sense of
mastery, and contexts of caregiving were assessed. Open-ended questions elicited further
understandings of caregiving concerns. The most frequently identified burden was “worry
about the future.” The greatest concern was “dealing with sadness and grief.” Recommendations
for assessing family concerns are presented.
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© 2006 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
