The Relationship between Caregiving Burden and Self-efficacy in Mothers of Children with Type ۱ Diabetes in Gorgan, Iran

Background: Caring for children with type ۱ diabetic can create caregiving pressure for parents. This pressure can lead to high levels of stress, depression, and low self-efficacy in caregivers. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the relationship between caregiving burden and self-efficacy in mothers of children with diabetes.Methods: This study is a descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study conducted on ۱۶۷ mothers of children with type ۱ diabetes who were referred to the type۱diabetes clinic at Taleghani Educational and Medical Center in Gorgan, Northern Iran, Golestan Province in ۲۰۲۳. Data collection was done using a random sampling method proportional to the volume. Demographic characteristics and caregiving burden questionnaires were utilized, along with the Zarit and Berkeley self-efficacy questionnaires. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics version ۲۳. Given the distribution of data, t-tests or Mann-Whitney tests were used to compare caregiving burden and self-efficacy between two groups. In cases of more than two groups, one-way analysis of variance or Kruskal-Wallis test was employed. The relationship between variables was measured with Spearman's correlation coefficient, and the significance level was set at ۰.۰۵.Results: The findings revealed that the average age of mothers was ۳۸.۹۸±۶.۳۸, with mean caregiving burden and self-efficacy sources of ۳۰.۰۱±۱۱.۱۰ and ۸۳.۹۱±۸.۳۳, respectively. This suggests that they experienced a mild caregiving burden and high self-efficacy. A moderate inverse correlation was found between caregiving burden and mothers' self-efficacy (r= -۰.۳۷۸, P=۰.۰۰۰). Significant differences were observed in mothers' caregiving based on their employment (P=۰.۰۴۸) and education (P=۰.۰۲۷). Additionally, there was a weak inverse correlation between caregiving burden and child age (P=۰.۰۰۱, r= -۰.۲۶۴) as well as mother's age (P=۰.۰۰۲, r= -۰.۱۷۷). Furthermore, statistically significant differences were found in mothers' caregiving burden (P<۰.۰۰۱) and self-efficacy (P=۰.۰۲۵) based on ethnicity.Conclusion: The findings of this study revealed that slightly over half of the participants experienced a mild caregiving burden and most mothers had high self-efficacy. There was a moderate inverse correlation between caregiving burden and self-efficacy among mothers of children with diabetes. Therefore, it is necessary to pay special attention to these variables in mothers of children with type۱diabetes so that they can effectively care for their children.

کلیدواژه ها:

Caregiving Burden ، Children ، mothers ، Self-efficacy ، Type ۱ diabetes