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Determination of Burden of The Caregiver In Pediatric Liver Transplantation
Erdem Sönmez, Bora Barut, Tevfik Tolga Sahin, Sezai YilmazInonu University Faculty of Medicine Department of Surgery and Inonu University Liver Transplant Institute, Malatya, TürkiyeObjectives: We aimed to determine the burden of care of individuals caring for pediatric patients who have undergone liver transplantation.
Methods: The study was conducted at the Inonu University Liver Transplant Institute pediatric liver transplantation ward between May 2022 and February 2023. Data were the "Zarit Care Burden Scale," and the "Beck Depression Scale," and demographic characteristics of the patients and their caregivers.
Results: The average age of the caregivers was 38.35±11.82 years; 72.7% were women, 69.7% were the child's mother, and 81.8% reported that caregiving impacted their daily lives. The effect of caregivers' burden of care on their daily lives was found to be statistically significant (p = 0.021). Among the pediatric recipients, 42.4% were aged 13-18 years, 60.6% were female, 45.5% had been post-transplant for more than 25 months, and 54.5% developed complications. The burden of care was severe at 38.87±10.21, and the depression was mild at 10.81±8.65. A moderate positive relationship was observed between burden of care and depression level (r: .602, p: 0.000). Simple linear regression analysis showed that caregivers' depression levels significantly affected their burden of care, (R2=0.363).
Conclusion: The study concluded that caregivers of pediatric liver transplant patients experience a very high burden of care and mild depression. This high burden of care negatively impacts their daily lives and leaves them with less personal time. Providing social support to these families can improve caregivers' quality of life by reducing their depression levels.
Manuscript Language: English