Diagnostic characteristics of care receivers with intellectual disabilities and the difficulty and burden experienced by family caregivers

Abstract

This study investigated the difficulty and burden experienced by people caring for a family member with mental retardation in Hong Kong and the extent to which caregiving difficulty and burden are modulated by the diagnostic characteristics of care recipients. The Caregiving Difficulty Scale and Caregiver Burden Inventory were administered to 992 primary caregivers. The results indicate that various facets of caring difficulty and burden are differentially responsive to the severity of mental retardation and additional diagnoses of clinical disorders. Even individuals who suffer disorders pertaining to the same spectrum, such as autistic disorder and autistic features, differ in their functional and self-care capacities. Accordingly, psychological services and programmes designed for supporting people with intellectual disabilities and their families should adopt a multidimensional perspective of caring stress and take into account not only the demographic backgrounds of caregivers but also the clinical features of care receivers.