Correlation between caregiver burden and pediatric patients' life quality among pediatric patients with asthma

Abstract

Objective To investigate primary caregivers' caregiver burden and pediatric patients' life quality among pediatric patients with asthma and to analyze the correlation between them. Methods From October 2016 to March 2017, we selected 159 caregivers of pediatric patients with asthma from Children's Hospital of Shanghai as subjects by convenience sampling. The Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview (ZBI) and Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL 4.0) were used to investigate caregiver burden and life quality of children. The SPSS 22.0 was applied in analysis of data. Results The score of life quality of pediatric patients with asthma and caregiver burden were (80.67±14.02) and (36.30±18.84) respectively. There were statistical differences in caregiver burden among caregivers with different education levels and economic income (t=5.669, 5.029; P<0.01) . The caregiver burden was negatively correlated with life quality of pediatric patients (r=-0.509, P<0.01) . Conclusions Caregivers with a high level of education have light caregiver burden. Caregivers with a low level of economic income have heavy caregiver burden. The heavier caregiver burden, the worse the quality of surviral care for childern. We should strengthen health education for caregivers of pediatric patients with asthma, decrease caregiver burden and improve life quality of pediatric patients. Key words: Asthma; Child; Quality of life; Caregiver burden; Correlation