When my child was born: cross-cultural reactions to the birth of a child with cleft lip and/or palate.
OBJECTIVE
To compare across cultures the maternal reactions toward the birth of children with cleft lip and/or palate.


METHODS
An adaptation of When My Child Was Born, a Likert-type scale designed to assess reactions to the birth of a child, was used to survey the target populations.


METHODS
The surveys were administered between February 2006 and February 2008 at four hospitals: the Faculty of Medicine Hospital, Chiang Mai, Thailand; Sappasitprasong Hospital, Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand; the No. 5 Affiliated Hospital to Xinjiang Medical College, Urumqi, China; and Santa Monica Hospital,Pereira, Colombia.


METHODS
Thai (n = 22), Chinese (n = 25), Uygur (n = 15), and Colombian (n= 36) biological mothers completed the survey. A historical cohort of American mothers (n = 99) was used for comparison.


METHODS
The primary study outcome measure was the mean maternal affect score, which was calculated from the individual responses of study participants.


RESULTS
The mean maternal affect scores for the Thai, Chinese, Uygur, and Colombian mothers were 3.68 6 0.38, 2.97 6 0.52, 3.40 6 0.47, and 3.51 6 0.61,respectively. The American cohort score was 3.44 6 0.67. Analysis of variance testing indicated that these groups were not equal (p , .0001). There were statistically significant differences between groups (p , .05).


CONCLUSIONS
Maternal reactions to the birth of cleft children are different across cultures. These differences must be considered when administering care on international surgical missions.
Black
Jonathan D
JD
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, New York
Girotto
John A
JA
Chapman
Karina E
KE
Oppenheimer
Adam J
AJ
D000339:Affect; D001007:Anxiety / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D002971:Cleft Lip / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003105:Colombia; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007514:Islam / Q000523:psychology; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D012423:Rural Health; D012923:Social Class; D018881:Suburban Health; D013785:Thailand; D014481:United States; D014504:Urban Health