Investigation of raising burden of children with autism, physical disability and mental disability in China
Research highlights
▶ Families of physical disabled children and mental disabled children received more economic assistance than families of normal children, but families of autistic children did not. ▶ More children the family had, less economic assistance the family acquired. ▶ Compared with normal children, the raising burden of children with disabilities were as follows: children with autism (19582.4 RMB per year), children with physical disability (16410.1 RMB per year), children with mental disability (6391.0 RMB per year).
Section snippets
The investigation of raising burden of children with autism, physical disability and mental disability in China
The economic burden of raising children with disabilities is a problem in many countries. Study in South India (Kandamuthan & Kandamuthan, 2004) indicated that, the mean expenditure of the families with a severely disabled child was $254 per year, which is significantly higher than the corresponding expenditure of $181 per year of families with normal child. Of the disabled children, 80% were not getting any social security payments and 90% had no special concessions for medical and other
Participants
Two-hundred-fifty children including autistic children, physical disabled children, mental disabled children and normal children and their parents were recruited from three rehabilitation institution of Beijing, finally 227 children and their parents participated in this study.
Of the 227 children, 139 (61.2%) were boys, 88 (38.8%) were girls. Age range was 1–10 years, 70 (30.8%) were 0–3 years old, 131 (57.7%) were 4–6 years old, 26 (11.5%) were 7–10 years old. 82 (36.1%) were physical disabled
General information
Fathers education level: college or above 103 (45.4%), high middle school 86 (37.9%), low middle school or below 38 (16.7%); mothers education level: college or above 98 (43.2%), high middle school 87 (38.3%), low middle school or below 42 (18.5%). Fathers employment condition: employment 203 (89.4%), unemployment 24 (10.6%); mothers employment condition: employment 143 (63.0%), unemployment 84 (37.0%). Among the families of 227 children, 195 (85.9%) have one children, 30 (13.2%) have two
Discussion
This investigation indicated that the medical cost and caring cost of disabled children were significantly more than those of normal children, and the education cost, clothes cost and amusement cost of disabled children were significantly less than those of normal children. So disabled children enjoyed less than normal children, usually they were looked after or being seen by doctors while normal children were studying or playing. Apart from that, the education cost, medical cost, caring cost,
References (12)
- et al.
Psychological well-being and coping in mothers of youths with autism, Down syndrome, or fragile X syndrome
American Journal on Mental Retardation
(2004) - et al.
Brief report: Quantifying the impact of autism coverage on private insurance premiums
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
(2009) - et al.
A comparison of health care utilization and costs of children with and without autism spectrum disorders in a large group-model health plan
Pediatrics
(2006) - et al.
Economic costs of mental retardation, cerebral palsy, hearing loss, and vision impairment
Research in Social Science and Disability
(2003) - et al.
An investigation on needs of families and developmental support of 71 autistic children
Chinese Journal of Special Education
(2009) - et al.
The economic burden of disabled children on families in Kerala in South India
(2004)
Cited by (65)
Psychometric properties of the Kingston Caregiver Stress Scale in Romanian caregivers of children and adults with disabilities
2021, Research in Developmental DisabilitiesCitation Excerpt :The care process poses similar challenges for caregivers, regardless of the age of the person with disabilities, but also has specific features. Stress is associated with an increased risk of anxiety, depression (Bevans & Sternberg, 2012; Kim, 2017; Malhotra, Malhotra, Østbye, Matchar, & Chan, 2012), and higher caregiver burden (Hatefi, Vaisi-Raygani, Borji, & Tarjoman, 2020; Xiong et al., 2011) in all caregivers of disabled persons, regardless of the age of the person receiving care. However, the level of disability (Isa et al., 2013; Kim, 2017) and presence of behavioural problems in persons with disability are general factors that intensify the stress of caregivers (Kilik & Hopkins, 2019).
Parental involvement in developmental disabilities across three cultures: A systematic review
2021, Research in Developmental DisabilitiesCitation Excerpt :In China, unemployment rates are much closer for men (2.6 %) and women (3.2 %) (Organization for Economic Co-operation & Development, 2011). The bigger gap reported in Xiong et al. (2011) suggested that the cultural expectation for mothers to be the primary caregiver of their child with autism might have resulted in more women leaving their jobs. It should be noted that we do not have the intention of comparing socioeconomic status of participants across cultures or within their culture, since the articles reported incompatible parameters across studies to define family income level.
The architectural strategies of classrooms for intellectually disabled students in primary schools regarding space and environment
2021, Ain Shams Engineering Journal