Labbé Elise E, Lopez Irnia, Murphy Lisa, O'Brien Carol
Department of Psychology, University of South Alabama, Mobile 36688, USA.
Psychol Rep. 2002 Jun;90(3 Pt 2):1129-35. doi: 10.2466/pr0.2002.90.3c.1129.
Psychosocial functioning was compared between 32 caregivers of children with Batten's disease, a terminal, neurodegenerative illness, and with 20 caregivers of children with epilepsy or cerebral palsy. Caregivers' optimism was expected to be associated with better psychosocial functioning, regardless of the children's illness. A multivariate analysis of covariance indicated caregivers of children with Battens disease had significantly (p<.01) higher depression and anxiety scores on the Symptom Checklist-90 and demands on health and time schedule scores measured by the Caregiver Reaction Assessment than the comparison group. Pearson product-moment correlations were significant and ranged from -.52 to -.48 (p<.01) for scores on Life Orientation Test optimism and psychosocial functioning as measured by the Family Environment Scale and the SCL-90 for all participants. Findings suggest that caregivers of children with Battens disease experience greater psychological distress than the comparison group and that optimism is positively related to better caregivers' psychosocial functioning regardless of the type of illness.
对32名患有巴顿氏病（一种晚期神经退行性疾病）儿童的照料者和20名患有癫痫或脑瘫儿童的照料者的心理社会功能进行了比较。预计照料者的乐观情绪与更好的心理社会功能相关，无论儿童患何种疾病。多变量协方差分析表明，与对照组相比，患有巴顿氏病儿童的照料者在症状自评量表90上的抑郁和焦虑得分显著更高（p<0.01），并且在照料者反应评估量表所测量的健康和时间安排需求得分上也更高。对于所有参与者，生活取向测试乐观得分与通过家庭环境量表和症状自评量表90所测量的心理社会功能得分之间的皮尔逊积差相关显著，范围从-0.52到-0.48（p<0.01）。研究结果表明，与对照组相比，患有巴顿氏病儿童的照料者经历了更大的心理困扰，并且无论疾病类型如何，乐观情绪都与照料者更好的心理社会功能呈正相关。
