Care burden and quality of life in mothers of children with type 1 diabetes mellitus

Purpose This was a descriptive study to determine the care burden and quality of life of mothers of children with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and the correlation between these two variables. Methods The sample consisted of 106 mothers of children with T1DM. Data were collected using a descriptive questionnaire, the Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview and WHOQOL-BREF quality of life scale, and were evaluated with the Mann-Whitney U test, Student's t test, ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis test and Spearman's correlations. Results Mothers had a moderate burden level (34.95 +/- 12.48) with a statistically significant difference between income state and care burden (p < 0.05). Environment-related quality of life was related to income and physical quality of life was related to the time of diagnosis (p < 0.05). Care burden was negatively correlated with some aspects of quality of life. These results imply that mothers of children with T1DM have a moderate care burden and that their care burden has a negative impact on their quality of life. Conclusions It may be provided to support the systems and suggested applying experimental studies due to decreasing care burden and increasing the quality of life of mothers who have children with T1DM in terms of gaining better care for children with T1DM.