The Influence Factors Of Parental Burnout In Parents Of Children With Developmental Disorders And The Intervention Effect Of Sandplay Therapy

Due to the special characteristics of children with developmental disorders,their parents generally face high parenting stress and are prone to parental burnout when their own resources are unable to cope with the stress.Emotion regulation,as an important psychological ability for individuals to adapt to their environment,plays an important role in mental health.To explore the mediating role of emotion regulation strategy of parents of children with developmental disorders between parenting stress and parental burnout,and examine the effectiveness of sandplay therapy in alleviating parental burnout,three studies were designed and conducted.In the first study,a semi-structured interview was conducted with the 16 parents(14mothers,2 fathers)of children with developmental disorders,and the interview data were coded and analyzed using an interpretive phenomenological approach,which revealed that(1)parental burnout was mainly characterized by physical and mental exhaustion,shame and guilt,feelings of isolation and loss of control;(2)factors influencing parental burnout were mainly parenting stress,emotion regulation strategy,parenting role perceptions,co-parenting and social support.In the second study,212 parents of children with developmental disorders were tested with“the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form”,“Emotion Regulation Questionnaire”,and “Parental Burnout Assessment”.The results showed that(1)the higher incidence of parental burnout among parents of children with developmental disorders was 11.8%;(2)parenting stress and its dimensions of parental distress,difficult child,and parent-child dysfunctional interaction were significantly and positively correlated with parental burnout;cognitive reappraisal was positively correlated with parent-child dysfunctional interaction,difficult child and parenting stress;expressive suppression was significantly positively correlated with parental burnout and its dimensions of parental feelings of being fed up,exhaustion in one’s parental role,contrast,emotional distancing from one’s children;(3)expressive suppression played a partially mediating role between parenting stress and parental burnout.In the third study,a mother of a child with developmental disorders who had significant parental burnout was given eight sessions of short-course sandplay therapy case counseling to explore the effectiveness of sandplay therapy in alleviating parental burnout,and the results showed that short-course sandplay therapy was effective in promoting emotional expression and alleviating parental burnout in parents of children with developmental disorders.In summary,the main factors influencing parental burnout in parents of children with developmental disorders are: parenting stress,emotion regulation strategy,parenting role perceptions,co-parenting,and social support.Parents of children with developmental disorders who use expression suppression strategy to cope with parenting stress,which can increase the risk of parental burnout;the sandplay therapy offers parents of children with developmental disorders the freedom to express themselves non-verbally in a protected space,activating the healing power of self and alleviating parental burnout.