Investigation of quality of life in mothers of children withcerebral palsy in Iran: association with socio-economic status,marital satisfaction and fatigue

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to compare the quality of life (QOL) of Mothers of Children with Cerebral Palsy (MCCPs) with mothers of Typically Developing (TD) children as a Control Group (CG). The association of the mediating variables including socio-economic status (SES), marital satisfaction and fatigue with maternal QOL was also evaluated. Method: The MCCPs group consisted of 120 mothers (mean age: 30.3 ± 5.5 years) of children with CP. The CG included 100 mothers (mean age: 29.9 ± 4.5 years) of TD children. Demographic characteristics of the participants were recorded and the data was collected by World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF), SES Questionnaire, Index of Marital Satisfaction (IMS) and Fatigue Severity Scale–Persian (FSS-P). Data analysis was done by SPSS version 16.0. Results: The QOL and SES were lower, while FSS-P and IMS were higher in MCCPs group than CG (p < 0.001). The SES, IMS and FSS-P associated with all domains of QOL in MCCPs group, while they did just with some domains of QOL in CG (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The lower QOL in MCCPs group is supposed to be mediated by the SES, marital satisfaction and fatigue so, maternal empowerment in terms of these mediators and family-centered approach are recommended.

Implications for Rehabilitation

• The mothers of children with CP compared to mothers of typically developing children face particular challenges relating to rearing the child with disability.

• These tedious and chronic challenges influence on QOL, socio-economic status, marital satisfaction and perceived fatigue in mothers of children with CP.

• The QOL of mothers of children with CP seems to be exacerbated by factors such as lower SES, marital dissatisfaction and higher perceived fatigue.

Keywords::

• Cerebral palsy
• fatigue
• Iran
• marital satisfaction
• mothers
• quality of life
• socio-economic status

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to appreciate the administrator of Vali-Asr institute of rehabilitation for his best cooperation during execution of this study. They also thank the families who participated in the study.

Declaration of Interest: The authors report no declaration of interest. There is not any funding source in our study.