Depression, Family Functioning, Self-Esteem and Stress in Caregivers of Children with Muscular Dystrophy

Background: The objective of this study was to assess the depression for caregivers of children with muscular dystrophy and identified factor associated with caregivers' depression. Methods: Data was collected for the period from May to September 2011. A total of 185 subjects, caregivers of children diagnosed with muscular dystrophy between the ages of 0-18, were recruited by purposive sampling from the Seoul National University Hospital. Measures were chosen to assess caregivers' depressive status(Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale, CES-D), family functioning(Family APGAR Scale), self-esteem level(Rosenberg' self-esteem scale) and stress level(low or high). Depression was defined as more than 21 point by CES-D score. Results: The mean age of the children with muscular dystrophy was 9.0±4.3 years and that of the caregivers 39.2±6.2 years. 77.3% of caregivers were women, and 75.1% of caregivers were mother of children with muscular dystrophy. Depression was reported in 33.5% of caregivers. Caregivers with depression had significantly low self-esteem, low family functioning and high stress than caregivers without depression. In multivariate logistic regression analyses, the caregivers' depression were significantly higher in following variables; Moderate family functioning(aOR:3.28), severe family functioning(aOR:3.38), low self-esteem(aOR:7.90) and high stress(aOR:3.48). Discussion: Caregivers' Depression of Children with Muscular Dystrophy was strongly associated with family functioning, self-esteem and stress. Interventions focused on family functioning, self-esteem and stress are likely to improve the depression of caregiver of children with Muscular Dystrophy, and perhaps caregivers of children with other disabilities as well.