Today, more chronically ill and handicapped children are being cared for at home by a family member caregiver. The task of caring for a family member may feel burden that the caregiver has less time and money and more work. Family functioning and their burden have influence on coping and adaptation of families with chronically-ill children. This study attempted to identify the levels of burden and family functioning in families of children with cerebral palsy and to examine their relationships. The instruments were burden scale developed by Suh and Oh(1993), and a modified Feetham Family Functioning Survey based on Roberts and Feetham.(1982).
The subjects were 98 parents of children, under 15 years, who have cerebral palsy and being treated and living in Pusan. Data were collected through a self-administered questionaire from April 26 to May 29. The collected data were tested using frequencies, percentiles, means, t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation coefficient with SPSSWIN program. The results of this study were as follows ; 1. The mean rating scores of burden and family functioning were 2.79 +/- .51 and 4.12 +/- .69, respectively. 2. The relationships between general characteristics and burden were statistically significant difference : degree of children's handicap(F=6.333, P <.01). The relationships between general characteristics and family functioning were statistically significant differences : familial relation with the children(F=3.628, P <.05), caregiver's health status(F=4.359, P <.05), age of children (F=4.185, P <.05), and duration of treatment (F=6.802, P <.01). 3. In families of children with cerebral palsy, there was significantly negative correlation between the burden of parents and the performance of family functioning(r=-.230, P <.05). There were significantly negative correlations between the burden of parents and the satisfaction of family functioning (r=-.211, P <.05), and between the perceived importance and the satisfaction of family functioning(r=-.481, P <.01); however, there was a positive correlation between the performance and the perceived importance of family functioning(r=.425, P <.01). In conclusion, this study suggests that families of children with cerebral palsy need family-focused nursing interventions as supportive care for relieving their burden and for improving family functioning.
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