Psychosocial Predictors of Caregiver-Burden among the Caretakers of Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55737/qjss.vi-ii.25344Keywords:
Burnout, Burden, Caretakers, Children, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Psychosocial PredictorsAbstract
Parenting a child with neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD) is related to higher rate of anxiety, depression, stress, and reduced quality of life but there is a lack of knowledge about the psychosocial predictors of psychological distress among these caregivers. To investigate the relationship between psychosocial predictors and caregiver-burden having children with NDD. In a Cross-Sectional study, data was collected from 100 primary caregivers of children aged 2–12 years from various cities of Pakistan (Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi) during the period from June 2020 to February 2021. Sample included 55females and 45males, of 15-68 years (M=36.92 SD=1.55). Socio-Demographic Form and Care-giver Burden Inventory was employed. Majority of participants (30%) accomplished 14 years of education, were married (77%) with mean number of 2children. 25% were mothers, 54% lived in a joint family system and 47% reported having been the caretaker for 1-5 years. Mean score of caregiver burden inventory was 35.88 (SD=20) showing mild level of burnout. No significant mean difference of caregiver burden surfaced between males and females, shown by independent sample t-test (t97.98= -.179, p>0.05). Results of multiple regression with participant’s education, gender, age, family system, marital status, duration of caretaking showed that these did not significantly predict caregiver burden F (7, 91) = .817, p>0.05. Interventions aimed at improving the wellbeing of caretakers should be made part of treatment of children with NDD. Future studies should include larger sample and study the stigma in exploring the psychosocial predictors of burnout among such caretakers.
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