Clinics in Mother and Child Health

Abstract

Mother's Perception of the Quality of Life of their Children with Cerebral Palsy

Ludovico da Silva P, Cestari do Amaral V, Cymrot R, Pereira Saeta BR and Blascovi-Assis SM

Background: Quality of life is defined as individuals’ perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value system in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns. Due to the motor impairment, the cerebral palsy population is believed to have a differentiated perception of quality of life. The present study aimed to verify the impact of cerebral palsy on children and adolescents according to their mothers’ perception. The evaluation of these patients’ quality of life may be an important health indicator.

Methods: For this purpose, a total of 43 mothers of children and adolescents diagnosed with cerebral palsy participated in this study. Following classification of their children’s gross motor function according to the Gross Motor Function Classification System, the children were divided into the following groups: Mild; Moderate; and Severe. To evaluate the quality of life, the Pediatric Quality of Life inventory (PedsQLTM 4.0) was used, and, to evaluate the mother’s social support, the Social Support Questionnaire.

Results: The main finding of this work was that significant difference was observed between physical domains, where the more severe the motor impairment of a patient was, the lower the physical domain score of the patient’s quality of life was. The number of people giving social support was shown to be larger for the mothers who reported worse quality of life of the children and teenagers with cerebral palsy participating in the study. There was no difference in the scores of overall’s quality of life among the groups of study.

Conclusion: Based on our findings we conclude that the mothers’ perception of quality of life is independent of the motor impairment of their children in an overall analysis.