Authors : Noura Alhumedi, Dania Maimani, Amal Alghamdi
DOI : 10.18231/j.jpmhh.2019.005
Volume : 5
Issue : 1
Year : 2019
Page No : 27-31
Introduction: Intellectual disabilities are sever chronic issue that distressing the affected people and their caregivers, This study aim to assess the burden and the psychological disease of the caregivers of the intellectual disabilities patients and to find out whether there is any relation between the perceived burden and the independent variable such as age, sex, education, economic status and the type of intellectual disabilities in specialized centres in Jeddah city.
Materials and Methods: Through a cross sectional design a convenient sampling method was used to select the study subjects who were attending the selected centres in Jeddah during the period from 1,July to 30 sept,2018. using systemic sampling technique, a 201 caregivers were included in the study (130 Cerebral Palsy and 71 Autism), The (Zarit burden interview) and the(general health questioner 28) were used to assess the burden and the psychological disease of the caregivers.
Main Results: The study showed that burden and general health score were significantly correlated with the risk factors of age, marital status, number of children and monthly income of the caregivers of cerebral palsy patients, while there is no significant difference between participants of the care givers of the Autism patients. The mean of subjective and objective burden of the caregivers for the two intellectual disabilities was mild to moderate, while regarding the general health score the caregivers not suffering from any of the main domain psychological disease (anxiety/insomnia, somatic symptom, severe depression or social dysfunction).
Conclusion: Taking care of intellectual disabilities patients can be a burden to the caregivers as well as they suffer from negative life influence, which calls for more study in the future to increase the supports for caregivers.
Keywords: Caregivers, Intellectual disabilities, Burden, Psychological disease, Autism, Cerebral palsy, Saudi Arabia