Rousseau, MC., Baumstarck, K., Valkov, M., Felce A., Brisse, C., Khaldi-Cherif, S., Loundou, A., Auqiuer, P., Billette de Villemeur, T., & The French Polyhandicap Group.
BMJ Open. 2020;10(1):e032257. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-032257.
Mediation/Education :
The aims of this research were to study (i) the exhaustion felt by relatives of people with multiple disabilities living at home, and (ii) the factors that might be linked to this exhaustion. A questionnaire was sent out to several families of people with multiple disabilities living at home, and 77 families responded. The results of this study show that relatives experience a high level of exhaustion. Most participants look after their multi-disabled relative for more than 5 hours a day, and just over half wake up more than twice during the night. Research has shown that the exhaustion felt by family carers is mainly linked to: (a) the advancing age of the person with multiple disabilities and the family carer, (b) the caregiver’s state of health (for example, having a chronic illness), (c) financial difficulties, (d) the amount of care given on a daily basis (e.g. looking after another disabled person, getting up several times a night), and (e) how to deal with difficult situations: avoiding confrontation with the situation will encourage exhaustion, while a positive frame of mind will help combat burnout. Finally, the results showed that the health status of the multi-disabled person had no impact on the caregiver’s sense of exhaustion.