Strategies for Alleviating the Burden Experienced by Informal Caregivers of Persons with Severe Mental Disorders in Developing Countries: Protocol for a Scoping Review (Preprint)

Abstract

Caregiver burden is highly prevalent among the informal caregivers of persons with severe mental disorders. As such, strategies to support informal caregivers are necessary to enable them to cope with their caregiving role. Currently, there is limited evidence on the extent of existing strategies for supporting informal caregivers of persons with severe mental disorders in developing countries.

This study presents a scoping review protocol to identify and describe the extent and type of evidence on the existing strategies for alleviating caregiver burden among informal caregivers of persons with severe mental disorders in developing countries.

This scoping review will be conducted using the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for scoping reviews. The participants, concept, and context (PCC) framework will be used to select relevant studies. This review will include studies on strategies for addressing caregiver burden among the informal caregivers with specific focus on studies outlining caregiver interventions, caregiver support, and policies with strategies for supporting informal caregivers of persons with severe mental disorders. Relevant studies conducted in developing countries will be considered for inclusion. There will be no restrictions on publication type and design. Published literature will be accessed by searching electronic databases, including PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL and PsycINFO; ProQuest will be used to access the grey literature. Additionally, the reference lists of key studies will be reviewed to identify studies for inclusion. The search will be restricted to articles published between 2011 and 2021. Two reviewers will work independently to screen all abstracts and full texts for inclusion in line with set inclusion criteria. Extracted data will be categorised and described using descriptive qualitative content analysis.

This protocol will guide a scoping review to identify and describe the extent and type of evidence on the existing strategies for alleviating caregiver burden among informal caregivers of persons with severe mental disorders in developing countries. The main results of this scoping review will synthesize evidence from peer reviewed and grey literature sources outlining various services and interventions for supporting informal caregivers of people with severe mental disorders in developing countries. In addition, existing gaps in the literature will be identified to inform future studies.

The increase in caregiver burden among the informal caregivers in mental health warrants the development and implementation of strategies for alleviating the burden. This scoping review aims to increase awareness on the various services and intervention strategies for alleviating burden amongst the informal caregivers within developing countries.