The comparison of family interest and burnout status between disabled child families receiving assistance from a rehabilitation institution, and families with no disabled child

The aim of this descriptive-cross-sectional study was to compare the interest and burnout status of mothers of disabled children to mothers of normal children and, it was aimed to determine whether going to the rehabilitation center of the disabled child had an effect on the mother's interest and burnout status. Totally, 194 people were selected representing mothers with disabilities (n=97) and healthy children (n=97) living in Gaziantep. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Kruskal Wallis, Mann-Whitney U, chi-square and t tests. The mean age of the mothers of disabled children was 32.71 ± 6,20, while the mean age of the mothers of healthy children was 34.65 ± 7,96 (p=0,06). Of the mothers of disabled children 10,30% were illiterate or had not completed primary school, while it was 9.30% among healthy children's mothers (p=0,841). Of the mothers, 94.90% and 95.90% were housewives among disabled children, healthy children respectively. Of the disabled children 64,90% of were mentally disabled, 18,60% physically disabled and 16,50% were both mentally and physically disabled. Disabled children's mothers were more likely to have consanguineous marriage (55,80%) compared to healthy children's mothers (42,20%) (p=0,055). According to the average score of Maslach Burnout Inventory-Emotional Exhaustion Subscale, mothers of disabled children were more likely to have high avarage (13,33±9,64) than healthy child's mothers (7,43±7,56) (p=0,000). There was no statistically significant difference between the scores of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Personal Achievement subscale of the mothers who had disability and healthy child (27,79 ± 5,24 / 26,86 ± 4,82) (p=0,201). There was no statistically significant difference between the scores of the McMaster Family Assessment Device-General Functioning sub-dimension of the mothers who had disability and healthy child (1,76±0,52/1,68±0,55) (p=0,342) If the child is identified as disabled, the family counseling process should be initiated and should be given correct information about the disabled to the family. Applying family and couple therapy to all families may be beneficial in reducing stress and burnout.