TY - JOUR
T1 - Caregivers’ burden of school-aged children with neurodevelopmental disorders
T2 - Implications for family-centred care
AU - Purpura, Giulia
AU - Tagliabue, Luca
AU - Petri, Stefania
AU - Cerroni, Francesco
AU - Mazzarini, Andrea
AU - Nacinovich, Renata
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank all Italian therapists who contributed at various levels to the collection of data (in particular: Luisa Di Maso, Sicilia; Jenny De Carolis, Puglia; Nevia Ianni, Abruzzo; Valentina Petaccia, Abruzzo; Claudia Bigongiali, Lombardia; Federica Bovis, Lombardia) and all caregivers of children who participated to the study.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/7
Y1 - 2021/7
N2 - Caregivers of children with neurodevelopmental disorders play a central role during the rehabilitation and education processes, but they have an increasing risk of psychosocial problems even if the literature is not so agreed upon the specific and predisposing factors to that. The aim of this study was to examine possibly differences of burden levels in an Italian sample of principal caregivers of children with different kinds of neurodevelopmental disorders and to investigate the possible links between some clinical and sociodemographic variables and the levels of caregiver’s burden. 105 caregivers of school-aged children with neurodevelopmental disorders were included in the study and completed three online questionnaires (General Questionnaire, Caregiver Burden Inventory, Zarit Caregiver Burden Scale). Results highlighted that about the half of caregivers show from moderate to high levels of stress, but parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intellectual Disability show greater difficulties than parents of children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Language and/or Learning Disorder, and Developmental Coordination Disorder. Moreover, it was evident a negative correlation between the burden levels and the age of children, but also a direct correlation between the burden levels and the weekly hours of rehabilitation. These findings show that severity of caregiver’s burden is dependent by the type of neurodevelopmental disorder and suggest that an ecological and family-centred approach is necessary to guarantee the life health developmental course of these children.
AB - Caregivers of children with neurodevelopmental disorders play a central role during the rehabilitation and education processes, but they have an increasing risk of psychosocial problems even if the literature is not so agreed upon the specific and predisposing factors to that. The aim of this study was to examine possibly differences of burden levels in an Italian sample of principal caregivers of children with different kinds of neurodevelopmental disorders and to investigate the possible links between some clinical and sociodemographic variables and the levels of caregiver’s burden. 105 caregivers of school-aged children with neurodevelopmental disorders were included in the study and completed three online questionnaires (General Questionnaire, Caregiver Burden Inventory, Zarit Caregiver Burden Scale). Results highlighted that about the half of caregivers show from moderate to high levels of stress, but parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intellectual Disability show greater difficulties than parents of children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Language and/or Learning Disorder, and Developmental Coordination Disorder. Moreover, it was evident a negative correlation between the burden levels and the age of children, but also a direct correlation between the burden levels and the weekly hours of rehabilitation. These findings show that severity of caregiver’s burden is dependent by the type of neurodevelopmental disorder and suggest that an ecological and family-centred approach is necessary to guarantee the life health developmental course of these children.
KW - Burden
KW - Caregivers
KW - Neurodevelopmental disorders
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85109873468&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85109873468&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/brainsci11070875
DO - 10.3390/brainsci11070875
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85109873468
VL - 11
JO - Brain Sciences
JF - Brain Sciences
SN - 2076-3425
IS - 7
M1 - 875
ER -