The term ‘family burden’ has been introduced to describe the adverse consequences of life with severely disturbed psychiatric patients. Literature has established a distinction between the intensity of worry and appraisals experienced by caregivers (subjective burden) and the real amount of resources (time, money, health, etc.) spent on the care (objective burden). the use has been extended to people with intellectual disability (ID).

To compare the burden experienced by a group of caregivers to patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and a group of caregivers to people with ID.

179 adults with intellectual disability clients of the Carmen Pardo-Valcarce Foundation's sheltered workshop in Madrid (Spain) and 356 adults diagnosed of schizophrenia in the Gavá Mental Health Centre in Barcelona (Spain) were asked to participate in the present study along with their main caregivers. Burden experienced by caregivers was assessed with the ECFOS-II / SOFBI-II scale (Entrevista de Carga Familiar Objetiva y Subjetiva / Objective and Subjective Family Burden Interview). the tool hasan introductory section plus 8 modules which assess different domains of family burden.

Significant differences were found between both groups in all scales except two: Assistance in everyday activities and Effects perceived on the caregiver's health. Total scores also showed significant differences for both groups (p< 0.05).

Results indicate that, despite similar scores in some domains associated to subjective burden, caregivers to people with ID experience a lower level of objective burden than caregivers to patients diagnosed of schizophrenia.