TITLE:
Carer Burden and Burnout in Relation to Behavioral and Emotional Problems in Children’s Homes
AUTHORS:
Fauzah Rahimah Mohd Ali, Fairuz Nazri Abd Rahman
KEYWORDS:
Burden, Burnout, Carers, Behavioural Problems, Emotional Problems, Children, Children’s Home
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.11 No.1,
January
20,
2023
ABSTRACT: Introduction: Carers in children’s homes
encounter challenges in dealing with the children’s behavioural and emotional
problems. This may lead to burden and
burnout among carers. Aim: The objectives of this study were to
determine the burden and burnout among carers in selected children’s homes. The
correlation between them and the children’s behavioural and emotional problems were measured. Method: This was a comparative cross-sectional
study among 3 governments’ (40 carers) and 11 private children’s homes (40
carers) in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Pahang. Assessments were carried out
using the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS), Zarit Burden
Interview (ZBI) for the carers and Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire
(SDQ) for the children. Result: Carers at both types of homes showed
high levels of burnout. Majority of the carers from both types of homes had a
mild to moderate burden of 52.5% government and 47.5% for private homes. Carers
at government children’s homes showed moderate to severe burden at 15% compared
to private children’s homes at 5% (p = 0.226). Children at government homes had more
behavioural problems. Carers at government homes showed significant association
but a low correlation of cynicism with total difficulties, exhaustion and
cynicism with conduct problems. Carers at private homes showed a significant
association but a low correlation of decreased
sense of personal efficacy with total difficulties, conduct problems and exhaustion
with low prosocial behaviour. There was a significant association but a low
correlation of burden with total difficulties and emotional problems in private
homes. Simple logistic regression on association of children’s behavioral and
emotional problems with carer’s burden and burnout did not reveal significant
findings. Conclusion: Carer’s burden and burnout levels are high in
children’s homes even though they were not significantly contributed by the
children’s behavioural and emotional problems.