2019 Volume 44 Issue 1 Pages 169-176
In order to reveal Quality of Life (QOL) and relevant factors for parents who are involved the most in the home care of their children with severe motor and intellectual disabilities (SMID) and for their partners, we distributed a questionnaire form with questions associated with QOL and relevant factors for both mothers and fathers (the parents who are involved the most in the home care of their children with SMID and of their partners) and received responses from 530 cases. About 90% of the parents who are in charge of their children's care were mothers. Many of them work part-time rather than full-time, or they are unemployed. They sleep less, wake up more frequently during night time, feel more burden of care for their children, and have lower QOL. For both the parents who are involved the most in children's care and their partners, the less frequently they wake up during night time, the higher the level of their physical health status. In addition, the less they feel burden of care and the more they are employed, the higher the level of their mental health status. These findings suggest that the strategy to support them would include helping them have an adequate amount of sleep and quality lifestyles in terms of eating and doing exercise to maintain the physical health status and providing advice for relieving the burden of care and for being employed to maintain the mental health status. The factors relevant to QOL of both the parents who are involved the most in their children's care and their partners included variables associated with themselves as well as with their families including their partners and children. This suggests that it is important to provide support for the entire families including the partners, in addition to the intense support for the parents who are involved the most in their children's care.
