Impact of caregiver burden on health-related quality of life and family functioning of carers of children with epilepsy at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, South Africa
Sabo, U. A., Buttner, P., and Scher, G. (2020) Impact of caregiver burden on health-related quality of life and family functioning of carers of children with epilepsy at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, South Africa. SAJCH South African Journal of Child Health, 14 (2). pp. 66-70.
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Abstract
Background. The impact of caring for a child with a chronic disease on caregivers and their family functioning contributes to the child’s adaptation to the disease. Objectives. To determine the impact of caregiver burden on the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and family functioning of carers of children with epilepsy (CWE), and to determine factors associated with a high impact of caregiver burden. Method. A cross-sectional study was conducted among primary caregivers of CWE attending the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, South Africa. Participants had been involved in childcare for at least 6 months before study enrolment and all gave informed consent. Data regarding sociodemographic and epilepsy-related variables were obtained from questionnaires, including the 36-item family impact module of the Pediatric Quality of Life assessment tool. Scores in the lower quartile were considered indicative of a negative impact on HRQOL and poor family functioning. Results. Participants identified as experiencing a high impact of paediatric epilepsy care reported raw scores ≤31.3 for both caregiver burden and family functioning. The family functioning score correlated strongly with the caregivers’ HRQOL score (p=0.78; p<0.001). Multivariate analysis identified a low level of education among caregivers and a high seizure frequency in patients as independent predictors of caregiver burden associated with a negative impact. Conclusion. Our findings suggest that the burden of caregiving in paediatric epilepsy among our study population impacts negatively on family functioning. The burden of care was associated with a low level of caregiver education and a high seizure frequency in their children.
| Item ID: | 67164 |
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| Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
| ISSN: | 1999-7671 |
| Copyright Information: | © 2020, Health and Medical Publishing Group. All rights reserved. This is an Open Access article under the terms of the CC-BY-NC international licence. |
| Date Deposited: | 20 Apr 2021 01:32 |
| FoR Codes: | 42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4203 Health services and systems > 420399 Health services and systems not elsewhere classified @ 100% |
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