Abstract
Social support refers to people’s interpersonal relationships and is a potentially powerful mediator for caregivers’ life satisfaction. This study examined the relationships between parental caregiver burden, depression, social support, and life satisfaction. It compared these relation variables between parents of preschool- and school-aged children, as mediator effects of social support may differ across age ranges. Data were used from the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Korea’s research on support services and policies for people with brain lesions. Parental caregivers of preschool- (n = 93) and school-aged (n = 91) children participated in this study. A multigroup analysis indicated a significant negative relationship between caregiving burden and depression with social support and parental life satisfaction and a significant positive relation for social support with life satisfaction for the overall group, preschool- and school aged. Social support was a mediator for each group; however, the regression weight differed between preschool- and school-aged children’s parents. The study confirms the importance of caregivers’ social support and suggests a need for family support strategies that account for children’s ages.
Due to changes in both health care and social attitudes, almost all children with disabilities live with their families rather than in group homes or institutions (Davis et al., 2010). In the United Kingdom, 99.1% of children with disabilities live in homes and are supported by their families (Disabled Living Foundation, 2019). Developmental disabilities are a group of health conditions caused by impairments of physical, learning, language, or behavioral areas; these include disabilities such as intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and cerebral palsy (CP; Dodd et al., 2009; Zablotsky et al., 2017). In the United States, traumatic brain injuries can be considered as developmental disabilities if the diagnosis was conducted before the age of 22 (Dodd et al., 2009). A brain lesion in South Korea is said to encompass CP, traumatic brain injuries, and other brain injuries. In the newly enacted South Korean law protecting and supporting the rights of persons with developmental disabilities, persons with significant limitations in their daily or social lives due to atypical development or a significant delay other than an intellectual disability or ASD are defined as persons with developmental disabilities. Cases of persons with brain damage fall under the category of persons with developmental disabilities.[…]
TBI Rehabilitation 