Role of children's functional status and perceived burden in psychiatric morbidity among parents of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities

The present study examines the role of children's functional status and perceived caregiving burden in mental health among the parents of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities. 55 parents with age range of 26-55 years constituted the sample of the study. The participants were sampled from different rehabilitation centers and special school at Varanasi. They were administered Severity Assessment Form, Caregiver Burden Scale, and GHQ-28. Results revealed that functional limitation of children and perceived care-giving burden are significantly and positively associated with psychiatric morbidity. The stepwise regression analysis indicates that perceived caregiving burden is a significant predictor for psychiatric morbidity of such parents.