A Study Burden, Social Support and Quality of Life in Mothers of a Child with Nephrotic Syndrome

Sung, Mi Hae

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identity the level of burden, social support and quality of life of the subjects. The subjects of this study were 68 mothers of nephrotic syndrome patients whose children were hospitalized in one pediatric ward of the University Hospital in Seoul. The data was collected using questionnaires, and the period of the data collection was from Nov. 15 to Dec. 31, 1999. The instruments used for this study were the Burden Measurement Instrument developed by Montgomery et. al(1985), social support measurement instrument designed Brandt an Weinert(1978) and Quality of life scale designed by Ro,Yoo JA(1988). The data analysis was done by SPSS, t-test, ANOVA and the Pearson correlation coefficient. The results of were as follows. 1. The level of burden showed a mean score of 54.47, the level of social support, a mean score of 86.00 and the level quality of life, a mean score of 140.20. 2. The level of burden differed according to mother's religion, patient's purpose for admission and perceived patient's condition by mothers. 3. The level of social support and the level of quality of life differed according to perceived patient's condition by mothers. 4. There was a negative correlation between burden and social support(r=-.348, p<.001). Also, burden was negatively related with quality of life(r=-3.97, p<.001). Social support was positively related with quality of life(r=.064, p<.001).