Perceived Social Support and Caregiver Strain in Caregivers of Children with Tourette’s Disorder

Abstract

The research on Tourette's disorder (TD), a neuropsychological disorder consisting of motor and phonic tics, has largely focused on individuals with TD and not on the caregivers of children with TD. We investigated the effects of several variables on caregiver strain of caregivers of children with TD, including perceived social support, caregiver characteristics, and characteristics of the child's disorder. An online survey was completed by 140 caregivers of children with TD between the ages of 6 to 18 years. We performed a path analysis to examine the outcome of caregiver strain in relation to the research variables. Our results indicated that caregiver age, symptom severity of the child's TD, and perceived social support accounted for variance in caregiver strain, and that perceived social support was a partial mediator of child's symptom severity and caregiver strain. Symptom severity and caregiver strain were also related to the presence of other comorbid disorders, such as Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), anxiety, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) when compared to children either having no other comorbid disorders or other types of disorders.

Exploring the Impact of Chronic Tic Disorders on Youth: Results from the Tourette Syndrome Impact Survey

“…Scores on all negative scales (i.e., adverse family impact) were significantly higher in the CTD-Plus group, suggesting greater impairment in family functioning for families with youth who have both CTD and a comorbid condition. Compared to previous research, scores on the negative impact scale in the overall sample were similar to those reported for young adults (ages [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] with cerebral palsy (mean = 21.3, SD = 12.1) and higher than those with Down Syndrome (mean = 16.5, SD = 8.0). Scores on the negative impact scale in the CTD-Plus group were similar to scores reported for intellectual disability (mean = 24.5, SD = 11.2) but lower than for autism (mean = 28.9, SD = 9.0) [42].…”

“…The PedsQL-SF15 includes parallel child self-report and parent-report formats, as well as versions for children (ages 8-12) and adolescents (13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18). In the current study, 4 different versions of the PedsQL-SF15 were administered depending on the respondent (parent or child) and the child's age (child or teen).…”

“…Specifically, tic performance may result in neuropathic pain or tissue damage (e.g., headaches, neck and shoulder pain, stress fractures) [14,15]. Adverse effects on the family can include high caregiver strain [16,17] and stress [18,19].…”

“…Some research has yielded significant positive correlations between tic severity and functional impairment [5,9,17,19], while other research has failed to demonstrate a significant relationship [10,11,20,22].…”

Parenting Stress Among Caregivers of Children With Bipolar Spectrum Disorders

“…Specifically, parenting stress is more pronounced if caregivers are older (Schoeder & Remer, 2007), Caucasian (McCabe, Yeh, Lau, Garland, & Hough, 2003), psychiatrically impaired (Angold et al, 1998), with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms (Algorta et al, 2014; Wiener, Biondic, Grimbos, & Herbert, 2016), depressive symptoms (Theule, Wiener, Tannock, & Jenkins, 2013), or lower perceived social support (Schoeder & Remer, 2007). Child characteristic predictors of parenting stress include greater functional impairment (Angold et al, 1998), more severe psychiatric symptoms (Angold et al, 1998; Yatchmenoff et al, 1998), increased Tourette’s disorder symptoms (Schoeder & Remer, 2007; Stewart, Greene, Lessov-Schlaggar, Church, & Schlaggar, 2015), externalizing behaviors (Algorta et al, 2014; Anderson, 2008; Bussing et al, 2003a; Bussing et al, 2003b; Mackler et al, 2015; McDonald, Gregoire, Poertner, & Early, 1997; Stone et al, 2016; Theule et al, 2013; Tzang, Change, & Liu, 2009; Vaughan, Feinn, Bernard, Brereton, & Kaufman, 2013), and high rates of internalizing symptoms (Bussing et al, 2003a; Bussing et al 2003b; Deater-Deckard, 2004; Stone et al, 2016; Vaughan et al, 2013). …”