title: Perception about braces in parents of children with clubfoot.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To access the acceptability of Steenbeek brace by children undergoing clubfoot correction and their parents to ensure long-term compliance.
  
  
  METHODS
  The cross-sectional study was conducted at the Indus Hospital, Karachi from October 2013 to March 2014. A trained researcher interviewed the person primarily responsible for bracing the child using a pre-coded questionnaire. Modified Orthotics Prosthetics User Survey for satisfaction with either the Mitchell brace of the Steenbeek brace was used. It included 11 questions in the Parent Bracing Satisfaction Survey. SPSS 21 was used for statistical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Interviews were completed with 110 primary caregivers among whom 90(81.8%) were mothers. Overall, 32(29.1%) children were using the Mitchell brace, 30(27.3%) the Steenbeek brace, 46(41.8%) had shifted from Mitchell to Steenbeek brace, and 2(1.8%) had shifted from Steenbeek to Mitchell brace. Median duration of current brace usage was 4 and 3.5 months for Steenbeek and Mitchell braces respectively. The mean age of the child was 1.4 ±0.7 years, and the mean of 4-point Likerts cale score of parent bracing satisfaction was 28.7±2.2 in children on the Mitchell brace versus 28.5±1.9 for those on Steenbeek brace (p=0.505). Overall, 82(74.5%) parents had favourable attitude towards braces in general, but there were no significant differences in the items except "brace is easy to put on" (p=0.040) and "durability between Mitchell and Steenbeek groups" (p=0.017).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There were no differences in satisfaction levels between the two types of brace users.
authors.affiliation: The Indus Hospital,Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Syed Kamran
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.affiliation: The Indus Hospital,Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Syed Ali
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Anwer Jillani
authors.affiliation: The Indus Hospital,Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammad Zeeshan
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Aslam
authors.affiliation: The Indus Hospital,Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Sundus
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Iftikhar
authors.affiliation: The Indus Hospital,Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammad Amin
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Chinoy
authors.affiliation: The Indus Hospital,Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Mansoor Ali
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA.
authors.forename: Jose
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Morcuende
keywords: Mitchell brace, Steenbeek brace, Clubfoot brace parent satisfaction survey.