title: Quality of life in mothers of speech impaired children.
abstract: Today, health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is an important outcome parameter in medicine. As a mother's well-being is important for the development of her child it is assumed that her HRQOL influences her child. In children with developmental disorders mothers may experience a reduction of their HRQOL. This study focused on HRQOL in mothers of speech impaired children. In 91 mothers the SF-36 questionnaire revealed lower scores of all subscales except for 'bodily pain' and 'mental health'. Although the data allow for no conclusion on whether the speech impairment is the reason or the consequence of a reduced HRQOL, the results indicate the necessity to take into account the mothers' well-being when dealing with speech impaired children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Phoniatrics and Pedaudiology, Erlangen University Hospital, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rudolph
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kummer
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Eysholdt
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rosanowski
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013064:Speech Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires