CAREGIVERS OF MENTALLY ILL PATIENTS: ROLE OF COPING STYLE AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Objective: To explore the role of coping style and emotional intelligence of caregivers of mentally ill patients. Study Design: Present study was cross-sectional. Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out at Armed Forces Institute of Mental Health (AFIMH) Rawalpindi, during the months of Jun and Jul of 2018. Patients and Methods: Data was collected through convenient sampling techniques. The sample included 53 males and 47 females, with 29.87 years mean age and 4.30 standard deviation. Demographic sheet, brief coping scale (BCS) and self report measure of emotional intelligence (SRMEI) questionnaire were used. Results: Brief coping scale (BCS) and self report measure of emotional intelligence (SRMEI) questionnaire has shown satisfactory psychometric properties. Results revealed significant gender differences in subscales of BCS i.e., Active Avoidance Coping (t=3.47*), Problem Focused Coping (t=-1.10*), in overall Brief Coping Scale (t=- 2.76*), and on scores of SRMEI (t=-3.27*). Significant marital status differences had been found only in subscales of BCS i.e., Problem Focused Coping (t=2.24*). However, significant positive correlation of Positive Coping with age (r=0.21*), Active Avoidance Coping (r=0.23*), Problem Focused Coping (r=0.43**) and SRMEI (r=0.33**) has been found. Whereas, Problem Focused Coping is significantly positively correlated with BCS (r=0.17*) and SRMEI (r=0.24**). BCS and SRMEI (r=0.43**) has also shown significant positive correlation (r=0.56**). Whereas, no significant moderating role of age, gender and marital status in relationship of coping style and emotional intelligence has been found among caregivers of mentally ill patients. Conclusion: Emotional intelligence of caregivers of mentally ill patients gets affected by taking care of these patients which disturbs the coping abilities of care givers that brings stress to their lives also.