Iovino Emily A, Caemmerer Jacqueline, Chafouleas Sandra M
Department of Educational Psychology, University of Connecticut, United States.
Department of Educational Psychology, University of Connecticut, United States.
Res Dev Disabil. 2021 Jul;114:103983. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2021.103983. Epub 2021 May 5.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created unique challenges for family caregivers of children with developmental disabilities (DD). The purpose of this study was to conduct a 6-month follow-up on the experiences of caregiver burden and psychological distress among caregivers of children with autism (ASD) and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) during COVID-19 pandemic, compare their experiences to caregivers of children without DD, and test the interaction between opportunities for self-care and caregiver burden and psychological distress. Results indicated caregivers of children with ASD/ADHD continued to report significantly higher levels of psychological distress and caregiver burden compared to caregivers of children without DD. Counter to study hypotheses decreased opportunities to engage in self-care as a result of the pandemic predicted higher levels of psychological distress and caregiver burden for caregivers of children without DD, whereas only caregiver burden was moderated by self-care for caregivers of children with ASD/ADHD. Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic is continuing to negatively impact the psychological health of family caregivers of school-age children. In general, greater challenges are presented for caregivers of children with ASD/ADHD, but they seem to be more resilient to some COVID-19 challenges than caregivers of children without DD.
新冠疫情给发育障碍（DD）儿童的家庭照料者带来了独特挑战。本研究的目的是对自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）和/或注意力缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）儿童的照料者在新冠疫情期间的照料负担和心理困扰经历进行为期6个月的随访，将他们的经历与非发育障碍儿童的照料者进行比较，并测试自我照料机会与照料负担及心理困扰之间的相互作用。结果表明，与非发育障碍儿童的照料者相比，ASD/ADHD儿童的照料者报告的心理困扰和照料负担水平仍然显著更高。与研究假设相反，疫情导致非发育障碍儿童的照料者进行自我照料的机会减少，这预示着他们的心理困扰和照料负担水平会更高，而对于ASD/ADHD儿童的照料者来说，只有照料负担会因自我照料而得到缓解。总体而言，新冠疫情继续对学龄儿童家庭照料者的心理健康产生负面影响。一般来说，ASD/ADHD儿童的照料者面临的挑战更大，但与非发育障碍儿童的照料者相比，他们似乎对新冠疫情带来的一些挑战更具韧性。
