The relationship of spiritual orientation and caregiver burden of caregiver mothers with a child with cerebral palsy in Turkey.

INTRODUCTION

This study aims to examine the association between spiritual orientation and the caregiving burden experienced by mothers of children with cerebral palsy.

METHODS

Parents of 181 children with cerebral palsy, aged 0-18, participated in this cross-sectional-descriptive study. "Sociodemographic Form," "Spiritual Orientation Scale," "Zarit Caregiver Burden Scale," and "Gross Motor Function Classification System" were used to collect data.

RESULTS

The mothers who participated in the study had a mean age of 35.74 ± 5.94 years. The study showed that 17.1% of children with cerebral palsy did not receive special education, and 92.8% of them were born with a disability. Additionally, 62.4% of the children were found to be undernourished, 48.6% had irregular oral care, 43.1% had semi-active activity, 65.7% had irregular sleeping patterns, and 50.8% only partially understood what was stated. The study discovered that as mothers' ages increased, their spiritual orientation decreased, and their burden of caring increased. Furthermore, the mothers of children with severe disabilities had an increasing burden of care, as indicated by the gross motor classification.

CONCLUSIONS

The study found that mothers with higher spiritual orientation scores perceived less care burden. These findings suggest the need for implementing activities to provide moral support to mothers.