Background

Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) are at high risk for mental health disorders, stemming from challenges participating in motor activities. Parents of children with DCD report increased caregiver burden exacerbated by insufficient support and services for their child. A paucity of literature exists on parent and child mental health associated with a DCD diagnosis.

Aims

To explore parent perceptions of their child’s mental health, and the impact of DCD on family and parental mental health.

Methods and procedures

Implementation of a secondary analysis using the impACT for DCD, a cross-sectional online survey of parents of children with self-reported suspected or confirmed diagnosis of DCD living in British Columbia, Canada. Data analysis included descriptive and inferential statistics and content analysis.

Outcomes and results

Of the 237 participants, more than one third of parents (36%) rated their own mental health to be fair or poor, and the majority (90%) expressed concern for their child’s mental health. Themes emerged on the impact of DCD on child, parent, and family, influenced by access to resources.

Conclusions and implications

Standard of care for DCD needs to include services and supports that address caregiver burden and mental health of children with DCD and their families.

What this paper adds

This paper explores parent perceptions of their child(ren)'s and their own mental health when raising a child with DCD in British Columbia (BC). In BC, there is a lack of research on the mental health challenges families face when their child has a diagnosis of DCD. Amongst health care providers, there tends to be a focus on DCD as a motor disorder, with limited understanding and acknowledgement of the mental health component for children and their families. Thus, this study will inform health-care providers, parents, educators, and policy makers on parent-identified mental health needs and the essential services and supports. Unique to this study was the inclusion of a descriptive and exploratory content analysis, providing a holistic understanding of parents’ perceptions regarding the impact of DCD on their children and themselves. Our results revealed that parents perceive significant inter-connected impacts of DCD on the child, parents, and family, leading to poor mental health for parents and their child(ren). Limited access to resources and supports results in a negative trajectory for family mental health and well-being. Study results indicate the critical importance of addressing mental health, in addition to motor challenges. Healthcare providers need to adopt a family-centred approach to address the physical and psychosocial impairments associated with DCD, ensuring positive outcomes for children and their families.

中文翻译：

---

照顾者负担和心理健康：抚养患有发育协调障碍的孩子时父母的观点

背景

患有发育协调障碍 (DCD) 的儿童因参与运动活动面临挑战而面临较高的心理健康障碍风险。患有发展性协调障碍 (DCD) 儿童的家长报告说，由于对孩子的支持和服务不足，照顾者的负担增加。关于与 DCD 诊断相关的父母和儿童心理健康的文献很少。

目标

探讨家长对孩子心理健康的看法，以及 DCD 对家庭和父母心理健康的影响。

方法和程序

使用 impACT for DCD 进行二次分析，这是一项针对居住在加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省的自我报告疑似或确诊患有 DCD 的儿童家长的横断面在线调查。数据分析包括描述性和推论性统计以及内容分析。

结果和成果

在 237 名参与者中，超过三分之一（36%）的家长认为自己的心理健康状况一般或较差，大多数（90%）对孩子的心理健康表示担忧。主题是 DCD 对儿童、父母和家庭的影响，并受到资源获取的影响。

结论和启示

DCD 的护理标准需要包括解决 DCD 儿童及其家人的护理负担和心理健康问题的服务和支持。

本文添加了什么

本文探讨了不列颠哥伦比亚省 (BC) 的家长在养育患有发展性协调障碍 (DCD) 的孩子时对其孩子及其自身心理健康状况的看法。在 BC 省，缺乏关于孩子被诊断为 DCD 时家庭面临的心理健康挑战的研究。在医疗保健提供者中，人们往往将发展性协调障碍视为一种运动障碍，而对儿童及其家庭的心理健康因素的理解和认识有限。因此，这项研究将向医疗保健提供者、家长、教育工作者和政策制定者通报家长确定的心理健康需求以及基本服务和支持。这项研究的独特之处在于纳入了描述性和探索性的内容分析，提供了家长对发展性协调障碍对孩子和他们自己影响的看法的全面了解。我们的结果显示，父母认为 DCD 对孩子、父母和家庭有重大的相互关联的影响，导致父母及其孩子的心理健康状况不佳。获得资源和支持的机会有限会导致家庭心理健康和福祉的负面发展。研究结果表明，除了运动挑战之外，解决心理健康也至关重要。医疗保健提供者需要采取以家庭为中心的方法来解决与发展性协调障碍相关的身体和心理障碍，确保儿童及其家庭获得积极的结果。