1. Caregivers in anorexia nervosa: is grief underlying parental burden?
- Author
-
Duclos, Jeanne, Piva, Giulia, Riquin, Élise, Lalanne, Christophe, Meilleur, Dominique, Blondin, Soline, Cook-Darzens, Solange, Godart, Nathalie T., Berthoz, Sylvie, Mattar, Lama E., Roux, Hélène Marie, Thiébaud, Marie R., Vibert, Sarah, Hubert, Tamara, Courty, Annaig, Ringuenet, Damien, Benoit, Jean Pierre, Blanchet, Corinne, Moro, Marie Rose, Bignami, Laura, Nordon, Clémentine, Rouillon, Frederick, Cook, Solange, Doyen, Catherine M., Mouren, Marie Christine, Gerardin, Priscille, Lebecq, Sylvie, Podlipski, Marc Antoine, Gayet, Claire, Lasfar, Malaïka, Delorme, Marc, Pommereau, Xavier, Bioulac, Stéphanie, Bouvard, Manuel Pierre, Carrere, Jennifer, Doncieux, Karine, Faucher, Sophie, Fayollet, Catherine, Prexl, Amélie, Billard, Stéphane, Lang, François, Mourier-Soleillant, Virginie, Greiner, Régine, Gay, Aurélia, Carrot, Guy, Lambert, Sylvain, Rousselet, Morgane, Placé, Ludovic, Venisse, Jean Luc, Bronnec, Marie Grall, Falissard, Bruno, Genolini, Christophe M., Hassler, Christine, Tréluyer, Jean Marc, Chacornac, Olivier, Delattre, Maryline, Moulopo, Nellie, Turuban, Christelle, Laboratoire Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives - UMR 9193 (SCALab), Université de Lille-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Hôpital Saint Vincent de Paul de Lille, Groupement des Hôpitaux de l'Institut Catholique de Lille (GHICL), Université catholique de Lille (UCL)-Université catholique de Lille (UCL), Centre Hospitalier le Vinatier [Bron], Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire d'Angers (CHU Angers), PRES Université Nantes Angers Le Mans (UNAM), Université Paris Cité (UPCité), Université de Montréal (UdeM), Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department [AP- HP Hôpital Robert Debré], AP-HP Hôpital universitaire Robert-Debré [Paris], Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP)-Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP), Centre de recherche en épidémiologie et santé des populations (CESP), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP)-Hôpital Paul Brousse-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Université Paris-Saclay, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines - UFR Sciences de la santé Simone Veil (UVSQ Santé), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), Agence Nationale de la Recherche, ANR, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Inserm, Fondation de France, Ministère des Affaires Sociales et de la Santé, No funding was received to assist with the preparation of this manuscript. The EVHAN study was supported by grants from the French Ministry of Health (PHRCN 2007, 2011 AOM11197, and ANR Jeune chercheur) and from CNAM-TS, Fondation de France, Fondation MGEN, EHESP, AP-HP, CIFRE, and Contrats d’interface INSERM. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
- Subjects
Parents ,Psychiatry and Mental health ,Clinical Psychology ,Living grief ,[SCCO.PSYC]Cognitive science/Psychology ,Caregiving ,Anorexia nervosa ,Burden ,Gender role - Abstract
Purpose Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is a severe chronic disorder and parents’ experience of caregiving is usually marked by emotional distress and burden. Severe chronic psychiatric disorders are known to be linked with the concept of grief. Grief has not been investigated in AN. The aim of this study was to explore parents’ and adolescents’ characteristics that may be related to parental burden and grief in AN, and the link between these two dimensions. Methods Eighty mothers, 55 fathers and their adolescents (N = 84) hospitalized for AN participated in this study. Evaluations of clinical characteristics of the adolescent’s illness were completed, as well as self-evaluations of adolescent and parental emotional distress (anxiety, depression, alexithymia). Levels of parental burden were evaluated with the Experience of Caregiving Inventory and levels of parental grief with the Mental Illness Version of the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief. Results Main findings indicated that the burden was higher in parents of adolescents with a more severe AN; fathers’ burden was also significantly and positively related to their own level of anxiety. Parental grief was higher when adolescents’ clinical state was more severe. Paternal grief was related to higher anxiety and depression, while maternal grief was correlated to higher alexithymia and depression. Paternal burden was explained by the father’s anxiety and grief, maternal burden by the mother’s grief and her child’s clinical state. Conclusion Parents of adolescents suffering from AN showed high levels of burden, emotional distress and grief. These inter-related experiences should be specific targets for intervention aimed at supporting parents. Our results support the extensive literature on the need to assist fathers and mothers in their caregiving role. This in turn may improve both their mental health and their abilities as caregivers of their suffering child. Level of evidence Level III: Evidence obtained from cohort or case-control analytic studies.
- Published
- 2023