Current Situation Analysis of Care Support Needs in Children with Disabilities: from a Comprehensive Rehabilitation Perspective / 中国康复理论与实践

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the care needs and influencing factors for caregivers of children with disabilities. Methods:From December, 2019 to January, 2020, and August to September, 2020, a total of 496 family caregivers of children with disabilities were surveyed in Shanghai. The Care Needs Assessment Tool for Children with Disabilities was used to measure the care needs rates and satisfaction, and multiple linear regression was performed to analyze the related factors. Results:The rate of total need was 71.8%, which was high in the information support (83.7%), spiritual support (75.9%) and financial support (74.1%), and was at an intermediate level in alternative service support (62.9%) and professional support (62.2%). The satisfaction of total need was 39.4%, which was at a intermediate level in the spiritual support (50.8%) and professional support (45.5%), and was at a low level in alternative service support (32.8%), financial support (32.3%) and information support (30.3%). The caregivers needed less support for thoses with higher public policy satisfaction (B = -3.252, 95%CI -5.370 to -1.134, P = 0.003) and the children with vision and speech disability, and undetermined disability (Bvision disability= -12.160, 95%CI -21.976 to -2.344, P = 0.015; Bspeech disability= -12.754, 95%CI -22.583 to -2.925, P = 0.011; Bundetermined disability= -16.553, 95%CI -24.714 to -8.392, P < 0.001), while mothers (B = 9.071, 95%CI 4.293 to 13.848, P < 0.001) needed more support than grandparents. The caregivers with higher public policy satisfaction (B = 7.392, 95%CI 5.523 to 9.262, P < 0.001), the children with vision disability, hearing disability and speech disability (Bvision disability= 8.612, 95%CI 0.081 to 17.144, P = 0.048; Bhearing disability= 8.686, 95%CI 1.920 to 15.451, P=0.012; Bspeech disability= 9.515, 95%CI 1.184 to 17.846, P = 0.025), lower barriers to social inclusion (B = 1.932, 95%CI 0.457 to 3.408, P = 0.010) and shorter average daily care hours (B = -4.123, 95%CI -6.247 to -1.999, P < 0.001) were more satisfactory for support. Conclusion:The care needs of children with disabilities are diverse, with the highest rate of need for information support and the lowest level of satisfaction. There is some variation in the care needs of children with different types of disabilities, family roles, average daily care hours and social environment characteristics.