Parental Efficacy Moderates the Association Between Empathy and Burden Among Parents of Children Admitted to a Psychiatric Ward.

Empathy is considered a positive aspect of caregiving, although in certain circumstances, being empathic might increase the burden of caregivers. The current study assessed the associations between empathy, parental efficacy, and family burden among parents of children who were hospitalized in a psychiatric unit. Specifically, we examined whether the association between empathy and family burden was moderated by the parents' sense of self-efficacy. Seventy parents of children with psychiatric disorders, hospitalized in an inpatient psychiatric unit, filled out questionnaires of empathy, parental efficacy, and family burden. Results supported a moderating role of parental efficacy between empathy and family burden (interaction effect: ß = -1.72, p = .0406). Specifically, empathy was positively related to family burden among parents with low self-efficacy (conditional effect = 0.70, p = .032) and negatively related to family burden among parents with high self-efficacy (conditional effect = -0.39, p = N.S). Implications for practice include the importance of self-efficacy and address the possible negative implications of empathy among parents of children treated in a psychiatric hospital.

The mediating role of parental satisfaction between marital satisfaction and perceived family burden among parents of children with psychiatric disorders.

Parents of children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders may experience perceived family burden. Although previous research has extensively addressed the contribution of clinical factors to perceived family burden, the contribution of marital and parental factors to family burden has rarely been studied in the context of parents whose children have a psychiatric disorder. The current study therefore examined the associations between marital satisfaction, parental satisfaction, parental efficacy, and perceived family burden among parents of children with psychiatric disorders (age range 5-14). Sixty-three parents of children who were hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital completed several questionnaires on marital satisfaction, parental satisfaction, parental efficacy, and perceived family burden. Results supported a mediating role of parental satisfaction (mediation effect size beta = -0.2, p < 0.05) but not parental efficacy (mediation effect size beta = 0.02, NS) between marital satisfaction and perceived family burden. Implications include the need to further study the parental experience during a child's psychiatric hospitalization and other possible factors related to burden. We would also recommend including family and marital therapy as part of routine care in this context.