# Hope mediates the association between anxiety and caregivers’ preparedness in schizophrenia: a cross-sectional study

## TL;DR

This study shows that hope helps reduce the negative impact of anxiety on caregivers' preparedness for caring for people with schizophrenia.

## Contribution

The study identifies hope as a partial mediator between anxiety and caregivers’ preparedness in schizophrenia.

## Key findings

- Anxiety was negatively correlated with hope and caregivers’ preparedness.
- Hope positively correlated with caregivers’ preparedness.
- Hope partially mediated the relationship between anxiety and preparedness, accounting for 24.8% of the total effect.

## Abstract

This study investigated the level of preparedness of caregivers of patients with schizophrenia and explored hope as a mediator between anxiety and caregivers’ preparedness.

This correlational cross-sectional study included 375 caregivers of patients with schizophrenia. Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire on preparedness, anxiety, and hope. Descriptive analysis, Pearson’s correlations, and hierarchical linear regression modeling were performed to examine the associations between anxiety, hope, and caregivers’ preparedness using SPSS 22.0. The PROCESS v3.3 macro was used to analyze the mediating effect of hope.

Caregivers’ preparedness, anxiety, and hope scores were (20.79 ± 5.25), (10.38 ± 4.56), and (36.01 ± 5.25), respectively. Anxiety was negatively correlated with hope and caregivers’ preparedness (r = −0.478, p < 0.001; r = −0.290, p < 0.001), and hope was positively correlated with caregivers’ preparedness (r = 0.513, p < 0.001). Hope partially mediated the relationship between anxiety and caregivers’ preparedness, accounting for 24.8% of the total effect.

Anxiety among caregivers of patients with schizophrenia influences their preparedness and is mediated by hope. Enhancing hope among caregivers can reduce the impact of low preparedness caused by high anxiety.