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

Table 4 Levels of care burden and specific difficulties perceived by caregivers

Variables	Mean ± SD	n^c	(%)
Perceived care burden^a
Physical burden	5.5 ± 1.4	61	(82.4)
Psychosocial burden	5.1 ± 1.5	51	(68.9)
Financial burden	4.9 ± 1.5	43	(58.1)
Specific difficulties^b
No manpower to care for the child while the caregiver is resting	6.0 ± 1.4	63	(87.5)
Need someone’s help to take care of the sick child	6.0 ± 1.4	62	(86.1)
Lack of energy and time to do household chores	6.9 ± 1.4	62	(86.1)
Always tired	5.9 ± 1.4	61	(84.7)
Lack of energy and time to care for another child or family	5.6 ± 1.8	57	(79.2)
Lack of support when travelling to hospital	5.3 ± 2.0	56	(77.8)
Substantial amount of medical expenses	5.5 ± 1.8	50	(69.4)
Lack of knowledge on how to take care of the sick child	4.9 ± 1.8	44	(61.1)
Need help with some medical procedures at home	4.6 ± 2.3	44	(61.1)
Hard to coordinate hospital appointments	4.6 ± 2.2	42	(58.3)
Had to forgo some medical care due to financial reasons	3.9 ± 2.4	31	(43.1)
Need help from healthcare professionals for care at home	3.7 ± 2.2	28	(38.9)
Lack of knowledge on how to manage medical devices	3.6 ± 2.0	26	(36.1)

SD standard deviation
^aPerceived level of care burden and difficulties were measured on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 7 (very much)
^bThe list below was derived from interviews conducted before constructing the questionnaire
^cBurden and difficulties were dichotomized by combining responses of 5, 6, and 7 (very much) into considerable (burden or difficulty) category, and others into a not considerable category

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