Exploring Gender Differences in Perceived Stress, Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness, and Coping Styles among Caregivers of People Diagnosed with Psychiatric Illness

Globally it is seen that not only the patients who are suffering from mental disorders but also the caregivers or family members are also facing multiple psychological distress due to their disturbances. Objectives: To measure perceived stress, internalized stigma, and coping styles among caregivers of psychiatric patients. Methods: 160 participants were selected through purposive sampling from eight hospitals in Lahore. The study questionnaire booklet included the Urdu versions of the Internalized Stigma Scale, Coping Styles Scale, and Perceived Stress Scale respectively. Pearson product-moment correlations and T-tests were computed to explore gender differences in levels of the study variables. Results: The results revealed that women spent more time with loved ones as compared to men. There was a strong relationship with most of the variables among men, whereas the copying style scale showed no relationship with all variables. There was a strong relationship reported among women on most of the variables but coping style indicates a negligible relationship with the internalized stigma of mental illness. The T-test indicates that there was a significant difference (p-value=0.04*) reported on the internalized stigma of mental illness stereotype endorsement among men and women, whereas the rest of the variables did not report any significant differences. Conclusions: It was concluded that future research should be conducted on caregivers to create awareness and mitigate internalized stigma of mental illness as well as reduce stress common among people.