Emotional burden of care in mothers of cerebral palsy children: Functional dependency, emotional intelligence, and coping strategies

PIROTTI, S.B.; RUETTI, E.

International Journal of Disability, Development and Education

Taylor & Francis Online

Año: 2023

1465-346X

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of conditions caused by a static and non-progressive injury to the brain, causing complex limitations in self-care functions. CP children need continuous and dedicated attention from caregivers. Mothers in this situation usually experience a certain emotional burden, reducing the life quality and exhausting their condition to care. The coping strategies (CS) in mothers of CP children are ineffective, exacerbating anxiety and negative affect, and the levels of emotional intelligence (EI) would not be adequate. The main of this work were: a) to analyze the relationship between emotional burden of care, EI, and CS in mothers of 6-16 years old CP children; and b) to compare this relationship depending on functional dependence children. An association between high levels of the emotional burden of care, a high propensity to use disengagement CS, and low levels of EI was found. High levels of the emotional burden of care and high use of problem focused disengagement CS were found in mothers of total functional dependence children, compared to mothers of partial functional dependence children. These results emphasize the need to design intervention programs to educate and stimulate personal resources to deal with the emotional burden of care effectively.