Psychological Distress, Coping Mechanisms and Support Systems for the Caregivers of Children Living With Cerebral Palsy in Nairobi County

Caregiver burden is composed of multiple physical, psychological, social, and financial stressors associated with caregiving when dealing with children with cerebral palsy. The primary objectives of the study were to explore psychological distress experienced by the caregivers of children living with cerebral palsy, identify their coping mechanisms and the existing support systems. The study adopted a descriptive research design and convenience sampling was used to sample a total of 73 caregivers from Gertrude’s children hospital in Nairobi County Kenya. The mean age of children was 8.2 years. Kessler psychological distress scale, COPE inventory instrument and interpersonal support evaluation questionnaire were used to collect data. The results levels of psychological distress established that 74% of the caregiver severe levels of psychological with a mean of 36.54 (SD = 8.72). On the support systems for the caregivers, the results showed that highest supporting system was the appraisal support with a mean of 7.99 (SD = 2.25) followed belonging support system with a mean of 6.84 (SD = 1.86) and tangible with a mean of 6.73 (SD = 2.01) which showed low levels of support system. Generally, the results showed that the respondents had low levels of supporting systems. On coping mechanism, the study established that majority 86.3% of the respondents had approach coping mechanism which implied that most of the caregivers had active coping, positive reframing, planning, acceptance, seeking emotional support, and seeking informational support. This study recommended that Gertrude’s Children Hospital should engage marriage and family therapists in helping caregivers with psychological support/intervention in order to reduce cases of psychological distress. The hospital should carry out periodic workshops and trainings for caregivers in order to sensitize and create awareness on Cerebral Palsy (CP).