Psychological distress, burnout, sense of coherence and social support among caregivers of cerebral palsy children

Background: Cerebral Palsy (CP) children need long-life support from caregivers. which affects their mental health affected badly. Objective: to assess the relationship between psychological distress, burnout, sense of coherence, and social support among caregivers of cerebral palsy children. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted on n=100 caregivers of CP in the National Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine (NIRM) from June to December 20222. The data was collected through a purposive sampling technique from the caregivers of the CP children in the outpatient and inpatient departments of NIRM. Urdu-translated versions of the Depression, Anxiety & Stress Scale (DASS), Parental Burnout Assessment (PBA), Multidimensional Perceived Social Support, and Orientation of Life Scale (sense of coherence) were administered to collect the data. Results: The higher parental burnout was strongly correlated with higher overall psychological distress(r=0.64), and moderate negative correlation (r=-0.45) with perceived social support. A higher intercorrelation of depression, anxiety, and stress (r=0.77 to 0.93) was observed. there were also strong negative correlations of sense of coherence across depression r=-0.62, anxiety (r=-0.55), and stress (r=-0.51). the MPSS had a moderate negative correlation (r=-0.41) with distress. The MSPSS also showed a Moderate positive correlation (r=0.57) with a sense of coherence. Conclusion: It was concluded that caregivers of Cerebral palsy children are psychologically distressed and having burnout that effect their mental health. An increasing sense of coherence and social support can support their mental health. Keywords: Cerebral palsy, caregiver, depression, burnout, social support, sense of coherence