Predictors of Caregiver Burden of Parents of Children with Disabilities
Alboroto, Richard; Roper, Susanne O.
Abstract
Parents of children with disabilities experience elevated stress, which may contribute to their caregiver burden. Factors related to caregiver burden may be child or parent related. In this study, we investigated how income, economic hardship, age of the child with a disability, number of children in the family, and family cohesion were associated with mothers’ and fathers’ caregiver burden. Participants consisted of parents of 192 children; 155 of the children had some form of disability. The results show that family cohesion was negatively related to mothers’ and fathers’ burden. Economic hardship was also strongly associated with burden. Results suggest that it is important to examine parent related factors in examining parental burden. It is also important to examine parental burden in when looking at different family intervention options that may be used to reduce parental stress.