The Use of the Burden Assessment Scale with Families of a Pediatric Population

Abstract

The emotional, financial and social impact on caregivers of those with pediatric psychiatric, emotional and behavioral disorders has been poorly documented. This study sought to begin to remedy this by determining the utility of the Burden Assessment Scale (BAS) with this population. 300 parents seeking services within a major Canadian city were interviewed using the BAS and a follow up questionnaire on the clarity, comprehensiveness and acceptability of the BAS. The BAS was clear, acceptable and comprehensive for >80% of participants. Factor analysis revealed four factors compared to the original five factors found with adults. The BAS had a utility with this population and would be a valuable addition to standard information gathered but use of the total score only is recommended.

When Significant Others Suffer: German Validation of the Burden Assessment Scale (BAS)

“…In our study, Disrupted Activities pictured objective burden, Time Perspective and Guilt subjective burden, and Personal Distress included both items of objective and subjective burden. These findings support results from BAS studies which applied the criteria of the original BAS [ 11 ], but did not demonstrate objective and subjective burden to be independent factors [ 25 – 27 , 29 , 30 ]. In our opinion, the existence of correlated factors may be explained by difficulties to answer the BAS items exclusively from either the objective or subjective perspective, while the BAS does not offer different instructions for both perspectives.…”

“…In the modified German BAS ( Fig 1 , model 3), Disrupted Activities also included “missed days at work/school”, and Personal Distress encompassed the experience of “family frictions and arguments”. Other studies also showed a four-factor model with the best fit [ 29 , 30 ]. In a Canadian sample, Murdoch and colleagues [ 29 ] found Role Restriction , Family Impact , Public Embarrassment and Guilt/Worry .…”

“…Other studies also showed a four-factor model with the best fit [ 29 , 30 ]. In a Canadian sample, Murdoch and colleagues [ 29 ] found Role Restriction , Family Impact , Public Embarrassment and Guilt/Worry . Role Restriction complies to a great extent with Disrupted Activities , and Guilt/Worry resembles Guilt when compared to our German study.…”

Saúde mental de crianças escolares no município de Picos Piauí: o que a família pensa a respeito

“…Partindo dessa mesma perspectiva, estudo canadense realizado por Murdoch et al (2014) avaliou o ônus dos cuidados de 300 familiares de crianças e adolescentes com idades entre 2 e 19 anos com problemas comportamentais, emocionais e/ou distúrbios psiquiátricos na perspectiva dos fatores: "restrição do papel", "impacto na família", "vergonha em público" e…”

“…Ainda de acordo com Murdoch et al (2014), as questões dos cuidados com a criança com problemas de saúde mental são diferentes das de um adulto com tais problemas. Segundo os autores, uma questão importante é que os problemas de saúde mental existem no contexto do desenvolvimento, podendo se transformar à medida que a criança progride, como no caso de crianças com déficit de atenção e hiperatividade; ou podem entrar numa fase de quiescência para ressurgir à medida que a criança progride para a próxima fase do seu desenvolvimento, como pode ocorrer com o trauma associado a abuso sexual.…”