Do children with disabilities in Kazakhstan live in different families than healthy children?

Ainur Yelissinova, Tolebay K. Rakhypbekov, Yuliya M. Semenova, N Yelissinova, S Kulzhanova, A. Markabayeva, A M Grjibovski

2013

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DOI 10.1093/eurpub/ckt124.028
Data confidence 70 medium
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Abstract

Background According to UNICEF, there are about 150 million children with disabilities worldwide. In Kazakhstan, 62081 or 1.2% of all children are disabled. However, there have been no publications about families with children with disabilities in Kazakhstan. Objective To study the main problems in families with children with cerebral palsy and to assess whether these families differ from other families by socio-demographic characteristics in Kazakhstan. Methods A cross-sectional study. All 192 families residing in a town of Semey (former Semipalatinsk) were invited and 175 of them participated. Their socio-demographic charactoeristics were compared to those of 180 families selected at random in the same town. Moreover, both types of families were asked about the main problems (they could select 0-3 out of 9). Categorical data were compared using chi-squared tests. Continuous data were analyzed using Mann-Whitney tests. Results The main problems reported by the families with a child with cerebral palsy were child disability (71.4%) followed by material deprivation (38.8%) and hopelessness (12.6%) while in families with children without disabilities the three most common answers were ‘we do not have problems' (58.9%), material deprivation (21.1%) and lack of free time (19.4%). Differences between groups were significant (p < 0.001). Families with a child with cerebral palsy were more likely to be single-parent families (20.6% vs. 5.6%, p < 0.001). Mothers in families with disabled child were less likely to have higher education (30.3% vs. 40.0%, p = 0.007) and be a housewife (68.0% vs. 36.1%, p < 0.001). Fathers in these families were also less likely to have higher education (31.7% vs. 45.9%, p = 0.026) and be a white-collar worker (36.0% vs. 55.3%, p = 0.006). No differences in parental age, ethnic background and the number of children in the family between the groups were observed. Conclusions We observed significant social differences between families with children with and without disabilities. Given that many families with children with disabilities report poverty and hopelessness as main problems, better support should be provided to these families should be improved. Further research is needed on the effectiveness of the services provided to these families. Key message We observed significant differences between families with children with and without disabilities by marital status, education and occupation of both parents.