Assessment of the quality of life of mothers of children with cerebral palsy (primary caregivers)

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the quality of life and psychological status in mothers of children with cerebral palsy (MCCPs) and to assess their relation with regard to the degree of their child's disability.

Design: Face-to-face interviews with MCCPs have been performed. A prospective, case control study.

Setting: Physical therapy and rehabilitation training and research hospital. Subjects. 46 MCCPs and the mothers of 46 healthy children.

Main outcome measure: Notthingam Health Profile-1, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) scores in MCCPs and the mothers of healthy children. Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) was used for the children with cerebral palsy.

Results: A significantly worsened (P = 0.001) quality of life was observed in MCCPs compared to the mothers of healthy children. BDI scores of the MCCPs were significantly higher than the mothers in the control group (P = 0.000). There were no significant differences in BAI scores between MCCPs and control mothers (P > 0.05). A positive correlation between the quality of life and BDI scores was noted in MCCPs (P = 0.000, r = 0.57), and no correlation was detected between the quality of life in MCCPs and the GMFCS levels of children with cerebral palsy (r = 0.012, P = 0.95).

Conclusion: The quality of life in MCCPs is significantly lower than that of control mothers. Also, although the BAI scores were not significantly different between the groups, the BDI scores were poorer in MCCPs compared to those the control group.