"Time to care": relationship between time spent caring for pre-school children with developmental delays and psychological, social and physical well-being of parents.
Year: 2008
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Advances in medical technologies and changing philosophies of health care have led \nto a rapid increase in home-based care for children with disabilities. While there are \ncost savings for health services if children are cared for at home there are extensive \nadditional demands on the time and resources of parents, particularly primary \ncaregivers, who are usually mothers. Previous studies have shown that parents caring \nfor children with disabilities experience considerable stress and increased rates of \nmental health problems. \nThe present dissertation investigated the impact of caring on the daily lives of parents \nand in particular, a model proposing factors contributing to parental psychological, \nsocial and health outcomes. A preliminary qualitative study found time demands to be \na core theme when discussing the consequences of caring, and when describing tasks \nof caring. A second, larger scale quantitative study focused on assessing the time \nconstraints facing parents of children with developmental disabilities. Participants \nwere 95 primary caregivers (mostly mothers) and 65 secondary caregivers (mostly \nfathers) of children (mean age = 4½ years) with developmental disabilities who were \nclients of the Early Childhood Service, part of Disability Services SA. Children‟s \ndiagnoses included global developmental delay, Down syndrome, and autism. Caring \nand other activities of parents were assessed using a 24 hour pre-coded time-use \ndiary. Parents also completed questionnaires measuring characteristics of child \ndisability; their experience of time pressure and partner support; and psychological, \nsocial and physical well-being. \nExamination of time-use diaries found parents of children with disabilities spent more \ntime in “active” rather than “passive” caring tasks, than parents of children in the \ngeneral community. As well, they spent less time in personal care, and less time in \nrecreational activities. Intensity of caring, rather than total time caring was correlated \nwith reports of daily stress for primary caregivers. Patterns of caring and non-caring \nactivities carried out by primary caregivers on weekdays and weekend days differed \nfrom those undertaken by secondary caregivers, reflecting gender differences in \nparenting roles. \nAnalysis of questionnaire data showed children to have high levels of emotional and \nbehavioural problems. Parents (particularly primary caregivers) had significantly \npoorer psychological, social and physical health outcomes than normative samples. \nFeelings of time pressure had a stronger association with parental depression than \nactual time spent caring. Further, testing of the model showed time pressure and \npartner support to be potential mechanisms by which caring for a child with a \ndisability may lead to poor parental mental health. It is suggested that professionals \nproviding early intervention services need a greater awareness of the constraints of the \ncaring role undertaken by parents, together with the key role played by feelings of \ntime pressure and partner support in contributing to the mental health of parents of \nchildren with disabilities.
Author: Angela Crettenden
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2602113338