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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Intellectual Disabilities
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1506359

Study on the Quality of Life and Its Influencing Factors Among Primary Caregivers of Children with Intellectual Disabilities

Provisionally accepted
Yishu Dong Yishu Dong *
  • Qingdao Mental Health Center, Qingdao, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objective: This study aimed to investigate the quality of life, as well as the levels of anxiety and depression, among primary caregivers of children with Intellectual Disabilities (ID), and to explore the factors influencing their quality of life. Methods: Primary caregivers of 217 children diagnosed with ID, who were treated as outpatients or inpatients at Kangning Hospital in Jinzhou City from January 2022 to December 2022, were selected as the study group. In addition, 141 primary caregivers of children without ID in the same area were selected as the control group. The World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF), the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA), the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD- 17), and a sociodemographic questionnaire was used to assess the quality of life, as well as the levels of anxiety and depression in both groups. Statistical analyses were conducted to compare the quality of life scores and anxiety/depression scores between the two groups and to explore the relationships between the quality of life of primary caregivers of children with ID and sociodemographic factors, as well as their anxiety and depression levels. Results: Scores on all domains (e.g., physical capacity, psychological well-being, social relationships, and environment) of quality of life were significantly lower in the study group compared to those in the control group. The study group also exhibited significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression compared to the control group. The quality of life of primary caregivers in the study group correlated with factors such as the type of relatives, the child's gender, whether the child was an only child, and family structure. Factors positively correlated with the quality of life of primary caregivers of children with ID include the age of the child and the annual per capita income of the family. Factors negatively correlated with the quality of life include the degree of ID of the children, as well as higher anxiety and depression scores in primary caregivers.

    Keywords: Intellectual Disabilities, Primary caregivers, Quality of Life, Anxiety, Depression

    Received: 05 Oct 2024; Accepted: 03 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Dong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yishu Dong, Qingdao Mental Health Center, Qingdao, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.