The Relationship between Psychological Disability and Religious Practice and Coping Strategies in Caregivers of Children with Traumatic Brain Injury in Pakistani Population

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a serious issue and a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Caregivers of TBI patients experience psychological distress and a variety of social and financial issues. The present study aims to investigate the caregiver's burden and the factors that influence this burden. Furthermore, the present study will find out the association of religious practice, religious coping relations and psychological distress among caregivers of children affected with TBI.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 302 caregivers of children with TBI using Duke University Religion Index (DURL) for religious practice. General Health Questionaire-12 (GHQ-12) was used for anxiety and depression and Brief Religious Coping Scale (RCOPE) was used for coping strategies. The caregivers were conveniently chosen from different regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and data was collected from different tertiary care hospitals in Peshawar.

Results: Forty-nine (49) % of caregivers score ≥ 3 on GHQ suffer from psychological distress with a Mean of 20.957 ± 4.175). Positive coping methods were mostly used by caregivers than negative coping have a low level of distress with a Mean Positive Coping (P-COPE ) of 6.93 ± 0.41, Mean of Negative Coping (N-COPE) 0.486 ± 1.023. In religious practice, caregivers mostly participate in Organized Reliogious Activities (ORA) or some Non-Organized Reliogious Activities (NORA) with a Mean ORA of 4.20 ± 1.27, and NORA Mean of 4.17 ± 1.37 used by the caregivers. Coping methods were related to Caregiver psychological distress (GHQ-12 and P-COPE co-relation scores are (ρ -0.022, p b 0.05); GHQ-12 scores and N-COPE (ρ + 0.221=, p b 0.001). There is a negative correlation between GHQ 12 and PCOPE, while GHQ12 is positively correlated with NCOPE.

Conclusion: According to this study, there is a significant association between religious coping methods, religious practice, and psychological distress among caregivers of children with traumatic brain injury.