Burnout and Stressor-Related Factors among Caretaker of Children with Chronic Neurological Illness

Abstract

Objective: Caring for children with neurological conditions is challenging. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of burnout and its associated factors among caretakers of children with chronic neurological illness. Method: This cross-sectional study involved 18 years or older caretakers of children with neurological illness for more than 3 months duration. They were recruited from Paediatric Neurology outpatient clinics over a period of 3 months from July to October 2019 at a general hospital in the state of Kelantan, Malaysia. Each caretaker was given a set of questionnaires that included General Stressor Questionnaire (GSQ) which was translated into Malay version ‘Soal Selidik Umum (SSU)’, Copenhagen Burnout Inventory-Malay version (CBI-M) and Demographic Information Form. Results: Overall, only 20 caretakers had mean score of 50 or higher in all component in CBI-M, making the prevalence of total burnout among the caretakers of 8.3% (95% CI = 5.2%, 12.6%). Personal burnout involved 78 caretakers (32.5%, 95% CI = 26.6%, 38.8%), 42 caretakers with client-related burnout (17.5%, 95% CI = 12.9%, 22.9%) and 11 caretakers had work-related burnout (4.6%, 95% CI = 2.3%, 8.1%). Most common stressors were performance pressure, work-family conflict and poor job prospects. Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that family stressors, types of children’s neurological illness and number of household occupants were associated with personal burnout, client-related burnout and total burnout in their caretakers. Conclusions: Prevalence of total burnout among the caretakers was low, but personal burnout was prominent. Caretakers of children with genetic illness, cerebral palsy and autism had higher prevalence of burnout compared to other chronic neurological illness.