Does the physiotherapy management of children with cerebral palsy differ between urban and rural public hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal? A physiotherapist’s perspective

Abstract

Aim: To identify whether there are differences in the physiotherapy management of children with cerebral palsy (CP) in urban and rural public hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and if a multidisciplinary approach is used to manage these children.

Methods: The study was a cross-sectional point-prevalence survey with participants recruited by means of purposive sampling. One hundred and fifty-two physiotherapists (PTs) employed at various levels of public hospitals in KZN volunteered to participate in the study. A self-designed two-section questionnaire was used to collect data and was analysed and presented using descriptive statistics.

Results: Forty-one (56.9%) of the physiotherapists worked in rural hospitals and 31 (43.1%) were from urban hospitals. The large proportion of the rural based physiotherapists viz. 39 (95.1%) managed the CP children by means of a multidisciplinary team approach (MDT), predominantly once a month (21–51.2%) with 24 (77.4%) of the physiotherapists in urban hospitals indicated only a physiotherapy approach twice in a month (19–61.3%).

Conclusion: This study revealed that the majority of rural-based physiotherapists managed children with CP using the MDT approach on a monthly basis. This differed when compared to urban based physiotherapists who managed children with CP individually and on a bi-monthly basis due to resource constraints.

KEYWORDS:

• Cerebral palsy
• urban and rural
• physiotherapy
• public hospitals KwaZulu-Natal

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the participants in the study and for the support of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health, district departments of health and the College of Health Sciences of the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Disclosure statement

The authors declared no conflict of interest.