Exploring the Relationship Between Caregiver Burden, Hand-Eye Coordination and Dexterity Among Informal Caregivers of Individuals with Neurodevelopmental Disorders
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Abstract
Background: Informal caregivers of children with neurodevelopmental disorders often experience sustained physical, emotional, social, and functional demands that may contribute to caregiver burden and affect performance in daily caregiving tasks. While caregiver burden has been widely studied in relation to psychological distress and quality of life, its association with functional motor domains such as manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination remains less explored. Objective: To determine the association between caregiver burden, manual dexterity, and hand-eye coordination among informal caregivers of children with neurodevelopmental disorders. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted among 87 informal caregivers under 40 years of age caring for children younger than 18 years with neurodevelopmental disorders. Caregiver burden was assessed using the 12-item Zarit Burden Interview, manual dexterity using the O’Connor Finger Dexterity Test, and hand-eye coordination using the finger-nose test. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 25. Descriptive statistics were reported as frequencies and percentages, and chi-square tests were used to assess associations, with statistical significance set at p < 0.05. Results: Most caregivers were female (95.4%), unemployed (78.2%), and mothers of the affected child (80.5%). High caregiver burden was reported by 60 caregivers (69.0%), while poor dexterity was observed in 51 caregivers (58.6%). Normal hand-eye coordination was present in 74 caregivers (85.1%). Caregiver burden was significantly associated with manual dexterity, χ²(6) = 16.454, p = 0.012, whereas caregiver burden was not significantly associated with hand-eye coordination, χ²(4) = 3.544, p = 0.471. Hand-eye coordination was also not significantly associated with manual dexterity, χ²(6) = 2.731, p = 0.842. Conclusion: High caregiver burden was common among informal caregivers of children with neurodevelopmental disorders and was significantly associated with poorer manual dexterity, while hand-eye coordination was largely preserved and showed no significant association with burden. These findings suggest that dexterity may be an important functional domain to consider in caregiver health assessment and family-centered rehabilitation
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