Department of Developmental and Behavioural Pediatrics, University of Child Health Sciences, The Children's Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan.
J Paediatr Child Health. 2023 Jun;59(6):814-821. doi: 10.1111/jpc.16397. Epub 2023 Mar 31.
To find out differences in mental health outcomes between parents of children with different disabilities due to COVID-19 by determining the relationship between preventive practices, fear and stress in parents of disabled children.
A sample of 213 parents, whose children with disabilities (age range 1-16 years) were previously on regular follow-up before pandemic but did not take therapy for 1 year or more during COVID-19 lockdown and resumed sessions after a gap period, was surveyed. Perceived stress scale, fear and adherence to preventive measures questionnaire (developed by researchers) were used to measure stress, fear response of parents due to COVID-19 and preventive measures practiced by disabled children respectively.
Parents who had financial difficulties and believed their disabled children had more chance of getting COVID-19 were more stressed. Parents who received any help from community/government were less stressed. One-way analysis of variance showed parents of cerebral palsy (CP) children reported more stress of COVID-19 as compared to parents of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), global developmental delay (GDD) and intellectual disability (ID). Parents of ID children reported more stress than ASD. Parents of CP children had more fear of loss of family members or getting infected with COVID-19 than GDD parents. ASD, GDD and CP children adhered more to preventive measures than ID children; however, CP children adhered more to preventive measures than GDD children.
COVID-19 lockdown has persisting impact on mental health of parents of disabled children. Those parents experienced increased levels of stress and fear but reported adherence to preventive measures depending on the child's disability.
通过确定残疾儿童父母的预防措施、恐惧和压力之间的关系，找出因 COVID-19 而导致的不同残疾儿童父母心理健康结果的差异。
调查了 213 名父母，他们的残疾儿童（年龄在 1-16 岁之间）之前在大流行前定期接受随访，但在 COVID-19 封锁期间没有接受 1 年或更长时间的治疗，并且在间隔期后恢复了治疗。使用感知压力量表、父母因 COVID-19 产生的恐惧反应和残疾儿童预防措施遵循情况问卷（由研究人员开发）分别测量父母的压力、恐惧反应和残疾儿童预防措施。
经济困难且认为残疾儿童感染 COVID-19 几率更高的父母压力更大。从社区/政府获得任何帮助的父母压力较小。单因素方差分析显示，脑瘫（CP）儿童的父母报告 COVID-19 压力比自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）、全面发育迟缓（GDD）和智力残疾（ID）儿童的父母更大。ID 儿童的父母报告的压力比 ASD 儿童更大。CP 儿童的父母对失去家庭成员或感染 COVID-19 的恐惧多于 GDD 父母。ASD、GDD 和 CP 儿童比 ID 儿童更遵守预防措施；然而，CP 儿童比 GDD 儿童更遵守预防措施。
COVID-19 封锁对残疾儿童父母的心理健康产生了持续影响。这些父母经历了更高水平的压力和恐惧，但根据孩子的残疾情况报告了预防措施的遵守情况。
