Psychosomatic Symptoms, Depression, and Anxiety among Parents and Caregivers of People With Disability

Background: Caring for people with disabilities creates stressful conditions and may lead to mental health problems in parents and caregivers. The aim of this study was to investigate somatic symptoms, depression, and anxiety in parents and caregivers of individuals with disability in Isfahan, Iran. This study was conducted as a joint study by Isfahan University of Medical Sciences and the University of Hamburg with financial support from DAAD. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 454 parents/caregivers of people with disabilities in Isfahan in 2019. Randomized sampling was performed and participants were selected according to the inclusion criteria. The Patient Health Questionnaire-‎9 (PHQ-9) (Depression), PHQ-7 (Anxiety), and PHQ-15 (Somatic) were used for data collection. Questionnaires were distributed among the participants and completed with the coordination and cooperation of the government and NGOs related to people with disability. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) in SPSS software. Results: The results showed that 28.4% of parents/caregivers of people with disabilities did not have any depressive symptoms and the remaining 70% experienced mild to severe levels of depressive symptoms. Regarding the level of anxiety, 30.2% showed no symptoms of anxiety and 69.8% showed mild to severe levels of anxiety ‎symptoms. In terms of somatic symptoms, 17.8% reported no somatic symptoms and 82.2% reported mild to severe levels of somatic symptoms. Parents/caregivers differed significantly in terms of depression, anxiety, and somatic symptoms according to the type of disability. Conclusion: The findings of the present study show that the rate of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and somatic symptoms in parents/caregivers of people with disabilities is higher than that in the general population. In addition, different types of disability can have different effects on the mental health of parents/caregivers.