The Relationship Between Caregiver Burden and Resilience and Quality of Life in a Turkish Pediatric Rehabilitation Facility

Abstract

PurposeTo investigate the effect of caregiver burden, resilience, and quality of life of the parents of patients who are followed-up in a tertiary pediatric rehabilitation clinic. Design and methodsThis is a correlational cross-sectional study. Parents of patients who attend to utilize pediatric rehabilitation outpatient clinics of a tertiary center on a regular basis were invited to participate. All participants filled in the Zarit Caregiver Burden (ZCB) scale, Family Resilience scale (FRS) and Nottingham Health Profile (NHP). ResultsA total of 107 patient and caregiver dyads were included. Fifty-five (51%) patients had cerebral palsy, 10 (9%) had spina bifida and 42 (39%) had other neurodevelopmental disorders. Eighty-one (75%) of the caregivers were mothers. There was a significant difference in the caregiver burden between ambulatory children (Mean ZCB score 30.11 ± 13.56) and non-ambulatory patients (Mean ZCB score 37.22 ± 13.91) (p = .01). There were moderate negative correlations between caregiver burden and FRS commitment to life and FRS self-sufficiency subscales. Caregiver burden significantly positively correlated with all NHP domains. ConclusionsCaregiver burden is significantly higher in parents of non-ambulatory children when compared to ambulatory children in the pediatric rehabilitation setting. Caregiver burden and resilience correlated on moderate levels, but the factors influencing them are still unclear. Practice implicationsHealthcare and social support should be given to all caregivers in pediatric rehabilitation setting, but more so to the caregivers of non-ambulatory patients.