Parental stress and marital relationships among patients with brain injury and their spouses

This study examines parental stress and marital relationship among patients with acquired brain injury and their spouses.

The participants were 35 patients diagnosed with acquired brain injury and having school-aged children, together with their spouses recruited from out-patients from brain injury rehabilitation units across Denmark. The parents self-reported parental stress using the Parental Stress Index (PSI), marital adjustment using the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS), family functioning using the Family Environment Scale (FES). Additionally, the healthy parents completed the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90) measuring psychological symptoms. A matched control group consisted of parents suffering from diabetes and their spouses, being recruited from the National Danish Diabetes Register.

Significantly more symptoms of parental stress were reported by the brain-injured parents when compared to the diabetic parents (p < 0.05); the brain injured parents also reported significant more family dysfunction (p < 0.05). The healthy parents in the brain injury group rated their marital satisfaction and current relationship happiness significantly lower (p < 0.05) than the healthy control group. The spouses to the brain-injured patients were also significantly more depressed (p < 0.01).

When parents have acquired brain injury, they experience more parental stress and family dysfunction. Their spouses are less satisfied in their marital relationship and feel more depressed. These results indicate the need of a family centred supportive service to focus on the relational changes and dysfunctional family processes in families with a brain-injured parent and dependent children.