2015 Volume 19 Issue 2 Pages 158-164
Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the factors influencing the childcare burden of mothers with dysphagic children.
Subjects and Methods: The subjects were 34 mothers aged in their 20s to 40s who had disabled children. The children were 19 males and 15 females, aged 15 months to 12 years. We investigated the needs of the parents with a questionnaire for feeding and Nakajima's childcare burden scale. The scale had 8 items, with a maximum total score of 40. We divided the 8 items into two categories: Q1 to 4 concerned social restrictions on the caregiver, while Q5 to 8 concerned the caregiver's negative feelings toward the child. The total score of each category was used for the analysis. Correlations among the items were determined by the χ2 test. The correlations were statistically analyzed by the correlation coefficient, Mann Whitney U-test and Wilcoxon test using Windows PASW Ver. 20. Statistical significance was set at p＜0.05.
Before starting the measurements, the purpose and protocol were explained to the subjects to obtain their consent.
Results: A significant correlation between children's age in months and the category of caregiver's social restriction (r＝0.385, p＝0.025) was found. There was a significant relationship between birth order and the category of caregiver's negative feelings toward the child (p＜0.05). The caregiver's social restriction rate of mothers without a counselor was significantly higher than those with a counselor (p＜0.01).
Conclusion: These results show that extra consideration should be given to the caregiver's burden, especially children's birth order and solitary state of mothers, when designing dysphagia therapy.
