Assessment of Have Problems and Care Burdens of Mothers with Handicapped Children in COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT

In the study, it was aimed to evaluate the problems and care burden of mothers who have a handicapped child in the pandemic process. The population of the descriptive study consisted of the mothers of the children who came to the rehabilitation center (n = 230), and the sampling consisted of the mothers who wanted to participate in the study (n = 216). The research data were collected through social media and the data were analyzed using the mean, standard deviation, percentage and frequency measurements, independent sample t test, Oneway anova, Kruskal wallis tests in the SPSS program. In the study, Burden Interview Scale (BIS) scores of the mothers who stated that the educational status of their child was adversely affected in the pandemic, stated that they were worried that there would be someone to take care of my child if I died, stated that the child’s health checks were interrupted, stated that they did not send their child to school due to the fear of COVID-19, and reported that they had a problem in reaching the health institution was determined were significantly higher than. Mothers with handicapped children stated that their children experienced difficulties in important situations such as health checks and educations during the pandemic period. In addition, it was found that the care burden of these mothers was higher. During the pandemic period, it is necessary to make and support new regulations in accordance with the disability of these special children with state policies as well as healthcare professionals.

KEYWORDS:

• Pandemic
• handicapped children
• caregiving burden of mother

Acknowledgments

Thanks to all the individuals who participated in the study.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no actual or potential conflicts of interest.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

The patient consent

Patient consent was obtained from the participants in this study.

Additional information

Funding

During this study, no financial support was received from institutions or organizations.