Emotional burden in parents of children with trisomy 21: Descriptive study in a Colombian population

The role of a parent with a disabled child can be highly demanding. There are few publications concerning parental emotional exhaustion in Latin America. The present prevalent case-controlled study evaluated the frequency of emotional exhaustion in 103 parental couples of parents of children with Down Syndrome (DS); likewise the study explores the rate of emotionally exhausted and depressed mothers in comparison with the fathers. This outcome was measured using a modified and validated version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The results showed a prevalence of emotional exhaustion of 52.64%. In the matched-pair analysis we found a higher chance of exhaustion in mothers in comparison with their partners.