Frequencies of comprehensive care of professionals who assist children and teenagers with support needs according to their training and work characteristics

Abstract

Family is the fundamental axis in the care and protection of children and, however, the arrival of a child with a disability diagnosis alters their emotional state. Also those of the professionals who care for children and teenagers with support needs as well as their families, as they face the task of providing assistance continuously and for long periods of time. As a result, they endure a great emotional overload that sometimes it leads them to burnout, depression, fatigue, work overload, etc.
Therefore, the aim of this research is to study whether the frequencies of comprehensive care of professionals who assist children and teenagers with support needs vary according to their training and work characteristics. A self-elaborated questionnaire was applied to a sample of 257 participants with a mean age of 40.46 years (DT = 12.00) and an average experience of 10.76 years working with minors with support needs. The results indicate that the requests for diagnostic explanations that they have to make differ according to their level of studies, their complementary physical-emotional training and the area in which they work; Furthermore, the emotional support that is requested varies according to the job position they perform. In conclusion, although the educational and work characteristics of the employees do not differ in the frequency of provision of care in BADL to minors, they do produce differences in the explanations of diagnosis and in the emotional support they provide.