Solaja Oluwasola Adetola, Olaogun Adenike A
Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Nursing Services, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria.
Faculty of Nursing, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria.
BMC Nurs. 2025 Jul 31;24(1):1001. doi: 10.1186/s12912-025-03664-y.
Caring for children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) placed a heavy burden on the carers, which usually affects different aspects of the life of the carers. Knowledge of their burden helps to inform the broad assessment of caregivers' burden, leading to the development of a client-oriented nursing care plan capable of delivering holistic care. This plan can also inform the development of educational packages, institutional care practices, and a structured support group system that addresses the core challenges of carers of children with CP in third-world countries. Thus, this study assessed the caregiver burden of caregivers of children with cerebral palsy (CP) in southwestern Nigeria.
This study used a concurrent mixed methods design. The settings of the study were Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex (OAUTHC), Ile-Ife, Osun State and Massey Children's Hospital, Lagos, Lagos State. Samples were determined using the adjusted Cochran formula. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 92carers from the selected hospitals in Southwestern Nigeria for the quantitative part, while twelve carers participated concurrently in the qualitative study. Data was collected with the use of a standardised instrument (Zarit Burden Interview) and an interview guide for the In-depth interview. Quantitative data analysis was done using the Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) version 23, while the qualitative data were analysed using content analysis. Hypotheses were tested with an alpha value set at p ≤ 0.05.
The study found that the majority of carers (91.3%) were between 20 and 50 years, over 89% were females, married (91.3%), mothers (81.5%), with tertiary (47.7%) and senior secondary (35.9%) education. Nearly half of the carers were employed (46.7%), and 40.2% of them were self-employed. The results showed that nearly half of the carers (42.4%) had a moderate burden, 31.5% had a mild burden, while 15.2% had a severe burden. The qualitative data identified the burden as physical stress, time constraint, lack of support, emotional burden, and financial and economic burden. There was a significant association between the educational level of carers (χ2 = 18.39, p = 0.03), the occupation of carers (χ2 = 12.36, p = 0.05), and caregiver burden.
This study concluded that about half of the carers experienced moderate caregiver burden.
照顾脑瘫患儿给照料者带来了沉重负担，这通常会影响照料者生活的方方面面。了解他们的负担有助于全面评估照料者的负担，从而制定以患者为导向的护理计划，提供全面护理。该计划还可为教育套餐、机构护理实践以及结构化支持小组系统的制定提供参考，以应对第三世界国家脑瘫患儿照料者面临的核心挑战。因此，本研究评估了尼日利亚西南部脑瘫患儿照料者的负担。
本研究采用同步混合方法设计。研究地点为奥孙州伊费市的奥巴费米·阿沃洛沃大学教学医院综合院区（OAUTHC）和拉各斯州拉各斯市的梅西儿童医院。样本量采用调整后的 Cochr an公式确定。采用目的抽样技术，从尼日利亚西南部选定的医院中选取92名照料者进行定量研究，同时有12名照料者同时参与定性研究。使用标准化工具（Zarit负担访谈）和深入访谈的访谈指南收集数据。定量数据分析使用统计产品与服务解决方案（SPSS）23版，定性数据分析采用内容分析法。设定α值为p≤0.05进行假设检验。
研究发现，大多数照料者（91.3%）年龄在20至50岁之间，超过89%为女性，已婚（91.3%），是母亲（81.5%），接受过高等教育（47.7%）和高中教育（35.9%）。近一半的照料者有工作（46.7%），其中40.2%为个体经营者。结果显示，近一半的照料者（42.4%）负担中等，31.5%负担较轻，而15.2%负担较重。定性数据将负担确定为身体压力、时间限制、缺乏支持、情感负担以及经济负担。照料者的教育水平（χ2 = 18.39，p = 0.03）、职业（χ2 = 12.36，p = 0.05）与照料者负担之间存在显著关联。
本研究得出结论，约一半的照料者经历了中等程度的照料者负担。
