Research in developmental disabilities
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Comparative Study
Similarities amid the difference: caregiving burden and adaptation outcomes in dyads of parents and their children with and without cerebral palsy.
This study had two main objectives: first, to examine the direct and indirect effects, via social support, of caregiving burden on the adaptation outcomes of children/adolescents with cerebral palsy and their parents; and second, to assess the invariance of such models in clinical vs. healthy subsamples. Participants were 210 dyads of children/adolescents and one of their parents (total N=420), divided in 93 dyads of children/adolescents with cerebral palsy and 117 dyads of children/adolescents with no medical diagnosis. Data on caregiving burden, social support and adaptation outcomes were obtained through self-report questionnaires. ⋯ Findings were invariant across clinical and healthy subsamples. Caregiving burden may influence adaptation outcomes of children/adolescents with CP and their parents both directly and via their social support perceptions. These patterns are similar to those observed in typically developing children/adolescents.