Date of Award

9-17-2008

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Biomedical Sciences

First Advisor

Chalmers, Lynne

Abstract

Dealing with a long-term illness, traumatic injury, or a life altering accident or event can be very stressful for the person in those circumstances. It can also be very stressful for the family members and, specifically, the direct caregivers. Comparisons of psychosocial factors have been researched in families of children with special needs and families of children without special needs. Families of children with special needs have been found to have greater financial stress, interruption of family structure and routine, disruption of leisure activities, decreased time for social interaction, and poorer physical and mental health. At the current time within the United States, there is a great dependence upon the availability of caregivers for people with disabilities of all ages. The stressors of caregivers are well defined within the available literature, but there is very little research that looks at the quality of life of the caregivers. In order for caregivers to fulfill their responsibilities, it is important that their quality of life is considered. One hundred eight families of children with and without special needs in the Upper Midwest were mailed a quality of life survey (Short Form-36 ®version 2) and a stress quotient inventory (Holmes Stress Quotient Inventory). The study indicated that caregivers of children with special needs had a lower quality of life than caregivers of children without special needs. Neither the severity of the child's disability nor location of residence (urban or rural) influenced the quality of life of caregivers of children with special needs. There were no significant differences between the two groups of caregivers in regard to perceived stress. There was a significant inverse correlation between the quality of life and level of stress in the caregivers of children with special needs; as their stress levels increased, their quality of life decreased.

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