The Relationship Between Caregiver Workload and Stress Levels with Clinical Symptom Severity in Cerebral Palsy
Abstract
The aim of this study is to compare the functional status, spasticity, motor function status of children with cerebral palsy and their caregivers' workload and stress levels. A single-center prospective cross-sectional study was carried out with 30 children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) and their 30 caregivers. The clinical status of the children was assessed with the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS), Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS), The Functional Independence Measure for Children (WeeFIM). The caregivers' workload and stress levels were evaluated with Bakas Caregiving Outcomes Scale (BCOS) and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), respectively. The mean age of the children was 11.46±7.45 years. In correlation analysis, the caregivers' BCOS score was related to the children's MAS score (p<0.05). On the other hand, there was a significant relationship between BCOS and PSS scores of the caregivers (p<0.05). Greater levels of spasticity in the children were associated with greater levels of workload. Stress level is higher in caregivers with a high workload.
Keywords
Serebral Palsi, Bakımveren, İşyükü, Stres, Klinik durum