Anxiety and Its Influencing Factors of Caregivers for Children with Disabilities / 中国康复理论与实践

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the anxiety state and its 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. Crosstab was used to analyze the anxiety state and binary logistic regression analysis was used for identifying key factors. Results:There were 73.2% parents and 26.8% grandparents among 496 caregivers. Physical disabilities accounted most (26.0%) in the children. About 35.1% caregivers reported their anxiety state, and more than 10% reported moderate to severe anxiety. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that grandfather reported 0.318 times anxiety to mother (OR = 0.318, 95%CI 0.113 to 0.900, P = 0.031). Sleep problems (OR = 1.713, 95%CI 1.046 to 2.805, P = 0.032) and emotional functioning (ORgenerally = 0.057, 95%CI 0.009 to 0.340, P = 0.002; ORstable = 0.031, 95%CI 0.005 to 0.205, P < 0.001) of children were associated with the rate of caregiver-reported anxiety. Among family environment factors, monthly per capita household income (OR5000-< 10000 Yuan = 0.463, 95%CI 0.236 to 0.909, P = 0.025; OR≥ 10,000 Yuan = 0.325, 95%CI 0.160 to 0.660, P = 0.002) and housing status (OR = 0.356, 95%CI 0.208 to 0.608, P < 0.001) were associated with the rate of caregiver-reported anxiety. Among social environment factors, caregivers who were satisfied with current accessibility reported lower rate of anxiety (ORsatisfied = 0.136, 95%CI 0.031 to 0.602, P = 0.009). Conclusion:The anxiety state of caregivers of children with disabilities is higher than that of the general population. When caregivers are caring for a child with sleep problem or emotional issue, have low household income, or dissatisfied with the barrier-free environment, they may face higher risk of anxiety.