Aim: This research aims to determine whether the time of injury (congenital or acquired) affects the quality of life (QOL) in families having a child or adolescent with neurological impairment. Design: Comparative, cross-sectional study. Material and methods: To find out if there are differences in the quality of life domains between these two groups, 66 subjects (31 mothers of patients with congenital disorders and 35 mothers of patients with acquired disorders) completed the PedsQL-Family Impact Module (PedsQL-FIM), the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument—Short Form (WHOQOL-BRIEF), and the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ). Results: Analyzing the PedsQL-FIM dimensions, we found significant differences between groups in terms of emotional functioning, communication, and worry, which favor the congenital group. There are no statistically significant differences between social functioning, cognitive functioning, and daily activities groups. No significant differences between groups when evaluating the WHOQOL-BRIEF’s domains (physical health, psychological health, social relationships, environment) have been found. According to CERQ results, adaptive strategies had higher mean scores in the congenital than in the acquired group. The mean score for maladaptive strategies in the congenital group is higher than that in the acquired one, except for catastrophizing, which is higher for acquired. Conclusion: Our findings show that the mothers of patients with acquired neuropathology have a lower quality of life in the emotional functioning, communication, and worry domains.
This study aimed to determine whether there is a difference in quality of life between mothers of children with congenital neuropathology and, respectively, those with acquired neuropathology based on some sociodemographic characteristics/parameters, taking into account data from the specialized literature on the influence of sociodemographic characteristics/parameters on mothers with disabled children. 85 subjects (divided into two groups, congenital and acquired) were included in the study conducted at the National Clinical Centre of Neurorehabilitation for Children “Dr. N. Robanescu. To objectify – if existing – such differences, as mentioned above, we used the clinical, functional quantified evaluation instrument PedsQL- Family Impact Module (PedsQL-FIM). According to our data, there were statistically significant differences between groups for physical functioning, emotional functioning, communication, and worry. There were no statistically significant differences between the groups for daily activity, social functioning, cognitive functioning, and family relationships. We also found weak negative correlations between the following dimensions of PedsQL-FIM: emotional functioning, social functioning, and communication) and education for the former group; a weak positive correlation between worry and education, a weak negative correlation between emotional functioning and income level, and two moderate negative correlations between social functioning, daily activities, and income level for the latter group. We can conclude that the variable education had the most significant influence on the quality of life for mothers of children with congenital neuropathology, in contrast, the variable income level had the most significant influence on mothers of children with acquired neuropathology.
Keywords: sociodemographic characteristics, quality of life, disability
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