Burden on Families of Children with Hearing Impairment and Intellectual Disabilities

Abstract

Aim: The immediate families and/or caregivers of persons with disabilities often experience lifestyle changes that may manifest in the form of financial burden, restricted or dysfunctional family interactions, altered physical and mental health, etc. Similar problems are also faced by parents who have a child with disability. Though there are reports of changes in the lifestyle of parents of a child with an impairment/s, it is important to quantify and characterize the burden. This would, in turn, help in counseling.

Objective: To quantify third party burden in parents of children with intellectual disabilities and parents of children with hearing impairments, and to compare the groups.

Methods: Sixty-five parents were interviewed using the Family Burden Scale developed by Pai and Kapur (1982). Twenty-one parents had typically developed children, twenty-three parents had children with intellectual disabilities, and twenty-one parents had children with hearing impairments. The mean age of the children was 4.7, 6, and 4.8 years, respectively. Statistical analysis involved MANOVA to compare group data across subcategories and total scores, with Bonferroni-corrected post hoc tests applied as needed.

Results: Parents of children with disabilities suffer significantly more burden than parents of typically developing children. Parents of children with intellectual disabilities face more burden than parents with hearing impairment. Among the various contributors to the burden, the financial burden was found to be the highest.

Conclusion and implications: Parents of children with disabilities have to be made aware of the possible impact of having a child with disability in their family and how to handle such an impact. It is of utmost importance for any professional to look for the possibility of referring the parents to a psychologist.