Parental Burnout Among Parents of Children with Disabilities and Chronic Illnesses

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the severity of parental burnout among parents of children with disabilities and chronic illness. It was hypothesized that parents of children with disabilites/ilnesses would be characterized by higher levels of parental burnout and that their child’s disability and chronic illness would moderate the relationship of parental burnout with sociodemographic factors. The study was conducted with 254 parents (Mage = 35.37; SDage = 5.80) with children aged from 1 month to 35 years, 22% of whom had a child with a disability or chronic illness. The Parental Burnout Assessment (PBA) questionnaire was used to verify the research hypotheses. The correlation analyses conducted showed that parents of children with disabilities had higher levels of parental burnout, and as the degree of constraints related to the child’s difficulties increased, the level of parental burnout increased. The results of moderation analyses showed that the relationship between the number of children and parental burnout was statistically significant. Similar relationships were not found concerning the relationship of parental burnout and having a child under five or the gender of the parent. The study indicates that there are relationships between having a child with a disability or chronic illness, the degree of their impairment, and parental burnout.