Investigation of Care Burdens of Parents with A Child Diagnosed with TYPE 1 Diabetes During the Covid-19 Pandemic Period

Objective: In this study, it is aimed to examine the care burden of parents with a child diagnosed with type 1 diabetes during the Covid-19 pandemic period. Materials and Methods: The research is an analytical cross-sectional type study. The sample of the study consisted of 250 parents who brought their children to the hospital with the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes in the Department of Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Bornova, Ege University, Izmir Province. The data of the study were collected with the Child and Parent Identification Form and the Zarit Caregiver Burden Scale. Descriptive statistics, Mann Whitney U, Posthoc, Tukey's HSD, Paired Samples, Student's t, One Way Anova Tests were used in the analysis of the data. Results: The Caregiver Burden mean score of the parents included in the study was 31,64±13,42 before the pandemic period and it was found to be 37,33±12,95 during the pandemic period. In the research; It was found that parents with a "broken" family structure had a higher care burden than those with a "extended" and "nuclear" family structure (p<0.05). While the mean score of the caregiving burden during the pandemic period of 221 parents who named their income status as "bad" or "moderate" was 36,33±12,54, the mean score of the caregiver burden during the pandemic period of 29 parents who called their income status as "good" or "very good" was 44,93±13,67 (p<0,05). Conclusion: It was found that the parents of the children with type 1 diabetes there was a significant increase in caregiver burden during the pandemic period compared to the pre-pandemic period.