Examining the cognitive model of caregiving – A structural equation modelling approach

The study tests assumptions from the “cognitive model of caregiving” (Kuipers et al., 2010), which aims to inform interventions for carers of people with psychoses. The sample comprised 61 relatives of patients with schizophrenia. Standardized psychological assessments were conducted twice within 6 months including Involvement Evaluation Questionnaire (IEQ-EU), a short form of the Symptom Checklist 90-R (SCL K9), the Family Questionnaire (FQ), scales measuring control attributions of the Illness Perception Questionnaire for Schizophrenia (IPQS-R) and emotions toward the ill relative. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse data. We identified two pathways: (a) from “attributing control to relatives” to distress, intermediated by anxiety for the patient and emotional overinvolvement (EOI), and (b) from “attribution control to patient” to distress, intermediated by anger about the patient and criticism. The model provided a good fit to the data and was successfully replicated at a second point in time. We were able to find supporting evidence for a cognitive model of caregiving. Control attributions and emotions of informal caregivers are important when interventions are planned reducing expressed emotion and burden of caregivers.