Caregiver Burden, Spirituality, and Psychological Well-Being of Parents Having Children with Thalassemia

Abstract

The research determined the relationship of caregiving burden, spirituality and psychological well-being of parents of Pakistani thalassemic patients in a crosssectional research design. The sociodemographic form, Montgomery–Borgatta burden measure (Montgomery et al. in Who should care for the elderly? An east-west value divide. World Scientific, River Edge, pp 27–54, 2000), Multidimensional Measure of Islamic Spirituality (Dasti and Sitwat in J Muslim Ment Health 8(2):47–67, 2014. doi:10.3998/jmmh.10381607.0008.204) and Ryff Scale of Psychological Well-being (Ryff in J Pers Soc Psychol 57(6):1069–1081, 1989. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.57.6.1069) were administered on a sample of 80 parents (32 fathers and 48 mothers) recruited from different Thalassemic Centers of Lahore city, Pakistan. Data were analyzed through correlation and mediational analyses. Results indicated that the caregiver burden was negatively correlated with the psychological well-being and the domains of spirituality, while the psychological well-being and spirituality were positively correlated. We identified that the caregiver burden has direct effect on the psychological well-being of the parents and it influences the psychological well-being through the pathway of the two domains of spirituality, i.e., self-discipline and meanness–generosity. These results highlighted the role of spirituality upon the psychological well-being of caregivers, which could be utilized to prevent pathological influences (such as hard feelings, hopelessness, depressed mood, anxiety, and relationship problems) of caregiver burden and enhance psychological well-being through spiritual counseling. Caregivers can work on their well-being and burden by disciplining their lives and forgoing hard feelings toward others.