This study aimed to examine stress and health problems of female care workers who mainly support the daily lives of children with disabilities from the perspective of lifestyle habits, psychological stress, and stress coping. A total of 126 women (51 care workers who mainly provide livelihood support to children with disabilities and 75 general workers) were included in this study. A questionnaire through interview, the Diagnostic Inventory of Health and Life Habits (DIHAL.2), the Japanese version of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL), and the Japanese version of the Way of Coping Checklist (WCCL) were administered to all participants. Participants were divided into two age groups: younger persons aged <45 years and older persons aged ≥45 years. Statistical analyses were performed. Differences in each subfactor of the DIHAL.2 were observed between younger and elderly persons and between care workers and general workers. Particularly, differences were observed between younger care workers and younger general workers, with younger general workers demonstrating significantly higher total health, social health, exercise awareness, and stress coping scores than younger care workers. Additionally, differences in meal and sleep regularity were observed between younger and elderly persons, with elderly persons having higher scores than younger persons regardless of occupation. No differences were observed in the scores of the HSCL and WCCL items. However, self-blame was high in all participants, exceeding 1.5, and was the highest in younger care workers (1.9). In conclusion, female care workers mainly providing livelihood support to children with disabilities had low social health, exercise awareness, meal regularity, sleep regularity, and stress avoidance.
