Looking into the life of technology-dependent children and their caregivers in Korea: lifting the burden of too many responsibilities

Table 1 General and clinical characteristics of technological-dependent children and their caregivers (n = 74)

Variables	Categories	No	(%)
Child’s age (in years)	< 1	5	6.8
	1–5	41	55.4
	6–11	17	23.0
	12–18	11	14.9
Child’s sex	Male	53	71.6
Child’s sex	Female	21	28.4
Area of residence	Seoul	21	28.4
	Incheon, Gyeonggi	29	39.2
	Others	24	32.4
Child’s insurance type	National health insurance	64	86.5
Child’s insurance type	Medical aid program	10	13.5
Family’s financial status	High	9	12.2
	Middle	27	36.5
	Low	38	51.4
Primary caregiver	Mother	66	89.2
	Father	2	2.7
	Grandparent	2	2.7
	Others^a	4	5.4
Caregivers’ educational level	High school level or lower	19	25.7
Caregivers’ educational level	Bachelor’s degree or higher	55	74.3
Family types^b	Two-parents	67	90.5
Family types^b	Single-parent	6	8.1
Primary diagnosis	Cardiovascular	4	5.4
	Airway/respiratory disease	21	28.4
	Neuromuscular disease	15	20.3
	Neurologic disease	19	25.7
	Others	15	20.3
Physical capacity^c	Able to walk	16	21.6
	Able to stand briefly	23	31.1
	Able to sit independently	24	32.4
	Able to sit with help	30	40.5
	Able to roll over	36	48.6
	Able to lift head	42	56.8
	None (N/A)	32	43.2
Duration of technology-dependency	< 1 year	21	28.4
	1–3 years	22	29.7
	≥ 3 years	31	41.9

^{a “}Others” included an activity assistant service for persons with disabilities, a neighbor, a day care center for persons with disabilities, and a teacher at a special school
^b One caregiver did not respond
^c Five children were under 1 years old and could neither walk nor stand independently

ISSN: 1471-2431