The mediator effect of social support between burden and quality of life among caregivers of children with cerebral palsy

23^rd World Nursing and Healthcare Conference

July 10-12, 2017 Berlin, Germany

Li-Man Lin, Su-Fen Cheng, Wei-Wen Wu and Kuan-Chia Lin

MacKay Memorial Hospital ,Taiwan
National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences,Taiwan

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Nurs Care

Abstract :

Children with cerebral palsy often requires long-term home care by the primary caregivers, which results in great burden on the primary caregivers and thus impact their quality of life. However, only limited studies have explored on the mediating effect of social support on the primary caregiverâ�?�?s care burden and quality of life. This study used cross-sectional descriptive correlational design. Total of 120 primary caregivers for children with cerebral palsy participated in this study. The results showed: (1) six variables were identified as the predictors for the primary caregiversâ�?�? quality of life: CP children did not receive schooling, CP childrenâ�?�?s attendance of the special education class in regular schools, primary caregiversâ�?�? experiences of severe family dysfunction, total care burden, need for social support and sufficiency of social support. The above six variables were significant in predicting the primary caregiversâ�?�? quality of life (F=12.37, p<0.001) with an explained variance of 58.1%; (2) Baron and Kennyâ�?�?s mediation analysis revealed that â�?�?level of needs for social supportâ�?, â�?�?level of sufficient social support receivedâ�?, â�?�?level of need for material supportâ�?, â�?�?level of sufficient social support receivedâ�? and â�?�?level of sufficient emotional support receivedâ�? produced mediating effects on the primary caregiversâ�?�? care burden and impacts on the primary caregiversâ�?�? quality of life. Sobel test analysis indicated indirect effect and was statistically significant (p<0.05). The researchers suggest further assessment needs to be conducted on the fulfillment of the social needs and social support among the CP childrenâ�?�?s primary caregivers.

Biography :

Li-Man Lin is a Head Nurse at Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of MacKay Memorial Hospital in Taiwan.