Self-care in caregivers of children with FASD: How do caregivers care for themselves, and what are the benefits and obstacles for doing so?
Carson Kautz, Jennifer Parr, Christie L M Petrenko
PMID 32014800WHAT IT FOUND
Caregivers who felt more confident in their self-care reported greater satisfaction, lower parental distress, and more family needs met.
How often they did self-care did not show the same pattern. Time, resources, and child-care were common obstacles.
Key findings
01Caregivers who reported greater confidence in self-care also reported higher satisfaction, lower parental distress, and more family needs met; reported frequency of self-care did not show these relationships.
02Self-care strategies fell into seven categories: being present, seeking social support, maintaining physical health, engaging in hobbies, consuming media, treating oneself to small luxuries, and seeking information.
03Obstacles fell into eight categories: time restraints, lack of resources, family needs and challenges, exhaustion, health issues, mood, logistics, and pride, with lack of time the most common.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study was measured at one time, so it cannot show whether self-care confidence caused lower distress or whether lower distress helped caregivers feel more confident. The sample was small, with 46 caregivers. The caregivers were recruited from intervention trials, so they may differ from families not seeking treatment. The children were aged 3 to 12, so the findings may not apply to caregivers of infants or adolescents. Fathers and biological parents were underrepresented. The sample was mostly middle-class and college-educated, which may limit how broadly the findings apply. The self-care measure was developed for this study and was not an established test. The frequency question may not have captured self-care behaviour well.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that more self-care reduces caregiver stress. The study was cross-sectional and found relationships only with confidence in self-care; frequency of self-care was not related to stress or satisfaction.