Publication year: 2011
Source: Social Science & Medicine, In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 28 August 2011
Mariann, Idstad , Espen, Røysamb , Kristian, Tambs
Longitudinal research on caregiver burden related to mental disorders based on representative samples is scarce. Previous results on the development of burden over time are inconsistent. This article aims to establish whether change in mental disorder status in the index persons predicts subjective burden in their spouses in terms of changed mental health over a period of 11 years. We compared change in spousal mental health between four groups from a Norwegian population based sample of 9144 couples, in which the index persons suffered from mental disorder at the first, second, both, or none of the two measurement times. Mental…