Caregiver Burden and Psychiatric Morbidity Among Caregivers of Children with Thalassemia Major

Abstract

Background: Caregivers of children with thalassemia major experience higher caregiver burden and psychiatric morbidity. Aims: The aims of this study were as follows: (1) to assess the caregiver burden and psychiatric morbidity among caregivers of children with thalassemia major and (2) correlation between caregiver burden and psychiatric morbidity. Settings and Design: This was an observational, cross-sectional study carried out at the tertiary care hospital setup among 245 caregivers of children with thalassemia major. Subjects and Methods: Sociodemographic details of children and their caregivers and clinical variables of children were obtained. The Caregiver Burden Scale and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ)-12 were applied. Psychiatric diagnosis was made after clinical interview as per the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition. Statistical Analysis Used: Chi-square test, t-test, analysis of variance, and Pearson coefficient correlation were used for statistical analysis. Results: 33.06% were having severe burden, 30.61% moderate-to-severe burden, 27.34% mild-to-moderate burden, and 8.97% were having little or no burden. 13.46% of caregivers had psychiatric illness, out of which 8.57% had major depressive disorder, 4.08% generalized anxiety disorder, and 0.8% alcohol use disorder. “Weakly positive correlation” (P = 0.0284) was found between GHQ score and burden score. Conclusions: Higher caregiver burden and presence of psychiatric morbidity among caregivers of thalassemia children suggest that caregivers should be screened at regular intervals for early detection and management of psychiatric morbidity. Social and professional networks for psychosocial support and self-help groups should be planned for caregiver burden.

Caregivers burnout of their children with thalassemia

“…Study performed by Abbasi & Manzoor [27], whose conduct study in Pakistan (study sample equal 200 caregivers) and entitled as " Socio-religious prognosticators of psychosocial burden of beta thalassemia major" who stated that, there was significant relation between caregivers' total burnout score and their demographic data as age, gender, marital status, place of residence and income. Also, these results disagreed with study performed by Prajapati et al [24], who found that, there was no relation between age, gender, place or residence, education, occupation and marital status. From the researcher point of view, these results might be due to those families who residing in urban areas, sufficient income , higher education and employed had better opportunity to acquire more knowledge regarding thalassemia, They own recreational places in cities such as clubs and parks, places of health care are close to them, so they do not have to tire or waste time in transportation, they form relationships and friendship with others because of the nature of their jobs and that relieves the degree of burnoutRegarding to Correlation between caregivers` total knowledge and total burnout regarding thalassemia of their children, the results of the current study showed that, there were highly statistically significant positive correlation between total knowledge scores of caregivers and total caregiver`s burnout (p= 0.000**).These results agreed with study performed by Abbasi & Manzoor [27],whose conduct study in Pakistan (study sample equal 197 perants) and entitled as "Socio-religious prognosticators of psychosocial burden of beta thalassemia major" who found that, there were positive correlation between total knowledge scores of caregivers and total caregiver`s burnout.…”

“…Regarding to total burnout of the studied caregiver, the results of the current study showed that, less than three quarters of studied caregivers had high burnout and less than one third had low burnout. These results agreed with study performed by Prajapati et al [24], who found that, 69% of studied caregivers had high burnout. From the researcher point of view, these results might be due to insufficient social support from relative, neighbors and insufficient financial support from community.…”