Examining the Associations Between Parental Distress in Caregivers of Children Accessing Outpatient Psychiatry with Caregiver Ratings of Child Symptom Severity, Family Functioning, Financial Hardship, Social Support and Self-Care

Psychiatric illness during childhood and adolescence is a serious public health concern. Caregivers are critical for their child’s enactment of psychiatric interventions, though caregiver distress can have serious impacts on caregivers and their child’s outcomes. The purpose of this study was to explore the associations of caregiver distress with child symptom severity, family functioning, and caregiver social support and self-care at the time of their child’s referral to outpatient psychiatry. Caregiver distress was most strongly associated with parent self-care (higher distress for parents associated with less self-care), child symptoms (higher distress associated with higher severity), and parent age (higher distress associated with younger caregivers). These findings shed light on important and evolving characteristics of caregivers, which could be considerations for child and family interventions in outpatient psychiatry, and the importance of a family approach for improving overall health.