Mental Health and Quality of Life of Caregivers of Individuals with Cerebral Palsy in a Community Based Rehabilitation Programme in Rural Karnataka
Abstract
Background: Cerebral palsy is a type of non-progressive central nervous system disorder with multiple impairments. As there are sensory, communicatory and intellectual impairments, providing care at home may be stressful and affect to the physical and mental health of the caregivers. This in turn could interfere with rehabilitation of persons with cerebral palsy.
Purpose: This study assesses the mental health status and quality of life of caregivers of persons with disabilities. The study group consisted of caregivers of 23 children with cerebral palsy and intellectual disability.
Method: The needs of the children with disabilities were assessed using a pretested interview schedule, while caregivers were administered GHQ-28 and WHO-QOL.
Results: Thirteen (56.52%) of the primary caregivers tested positive for GHQ. The psychological and environmental domains of QOL were found to be most affected, while the physical and social domains were relatively better.
Conclusion: There was a significant (p<0.05) correlation between the GHQ scores and quality of life.
Full text article
Authors
Copyright (c) 2012 The Author(s)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License By-NC-ND 4.0 that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
