Health professionals' perceptions of feeding-related quality of life in children with quadriplegic cerebral palsy.
BACKGROUND
Our aim was to identify the major determinants of feeding-related quality of life (QoL) in children with quadriplegic cerebral palsy (QCP) from the perspective of health professionals to provide a framework for comprehensive clinical evaluation of health status in this group.


METHODS
A trained facilitator conducted five semi-structured focus groups during September and November 2003. Participants were recruited through the two paediatric hospitals in Sydney and community-based services, and included general and specialist paediatricians (n = 18), nurses (n = 15) and allied health professionals (n = 13), with an 80% response rate. All sessions were audio- and videotaped. NVIVO software was used to facilitate thematic analysis of the transcribed audiotapes.


RESULTS
Responses clustered into five themes: delivery of health services, parent-child interaction, the child's physical and emotional well-being, and social participation. Participants thought the QoL of child and parent was inseparable. Parent-child interaction, delivery of services and physical well-being were the topics which prompted most participant interaction. These findings did not vary across disciplines.


CONCLUSIONS
Health professionals identified five domains which provide a framework within which clinicians may comprehensively evaluate the health status of children with QCP and feeding difficulties. These five domains may also be used to inform a new feeding-related QoL instrument for use in this group of patients.
Morrow
A M
AM
Centre for Kidney Research, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Angiem@chw.edu.au
Quine
S
S
Craig
J C
JC
D000328:Adult; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D002648:Child; D004435:Eating / Q000523:psychology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009517:New South Wales; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires