title: Quality of life in parents of children with cerebral palsy: is it influenced by the child's behaviour?
abstract: The aims of the present study were: to examine the quality of life (QOL) of parents of children with cerebral palsy (CP) and to establish the possible effect of behaviour problems on their QOL. One-hundred children with CP, aged between 4 and 10 years, and both their parents were included in the study. Both parents completed the WHOQOL-BREF, to assess their QOL. A sample of 60 parents of healthy children was used as control group. The primary caregiver also completed the CHILD BEHAVIOUR CHECKLIST (CBCL). Parents of children with CP showed lower scores on physical and psychological domains than the control group on QOL. In the psychological domain the mothers of children with hemiplegia had the lowest scores. The mothers reported lower scores than the fathers for the physical domain in the group of children with diplegia and quadriplegia and for the psychological domain in the group of children with hemiplegia. Children with hemiplegia showed externalizing scores at CBCL higher than the other groups, that could explain the poorer QOL scores of their mothers. In conclusions our results provide useful information on the QOL in families with different forms of CP, useful in planning interventions for the family of children with CP.
authors.affiliation: Division of Child Neurology and Psychiatry, Department of Paediatrics, University of Catania, Catania, Italy.
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Romeo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cioni
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Distefano
authors.forename: L R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Battaglia
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Costanzo
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ricci
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: De Sanctis
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Romeo
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mazzone
authors.forename: Eugenio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mercuri
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009069:Movement Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult