ABSTRACT
Background
Overnight respite care can be a lifeline for parents of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We explored the multifaceted parent-reported outcomes of respite and potential demographic variations related to this broad impact.
Method
Parents (n = 178) reported respite effects on their personal well-being, spousal relationships, family relationships, spiritual needs and ability to complete other activities, which correspond to five subscales of the novel Respite Impact Survey.
Results
Most parents agreed/strongly agreed with 22 of 23 items, particularly related to rest, recharge and relationships. Univariate ANOVAs revealed differences with small-to-moderate effect sizes based on child sex (η
2 = 0.03, 0.05), parent age (η
2 = 0.07, 0.13) and parent education level (η
2 = 0.06).
Conclusion
Parents endorsed many benefits of overnight respite, with few differentiating effects observed within this sample. However, participants represented a relatively homogeneous and comparatively affluent group of parents connected to a single respite provider. Future research should include more racially and socioeconomically diverse samples to better understand how respite experiences may vary across families.