Background: Mothers of moderately to severely affected children with cerebral palsy (CP) have to spend a long time to take care of their children. This time-consuming responsibility affects their physical and psychosocial health. Therefore, mothers as caregivers are required to receive special training to take care of their children. Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a developed web-based intervention for daily care training of children with CP on their mothers' quality of life (QOL), anxiety, depression, stress, and their musculoskeletal pain. Methods and procedures: This study was a single blind randomized controlled trial. 91 mothers of children with CP with Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) levels III, IѴ, and Ѵ, who aged from 4 to 12 years were assigned to the intervention and control groups using block randomization. Mothers in the control group received their routine face to face occupational therapy intervention and mothers in the intervention group received 12 weeks web-based intervention. QOL, depression, anxiety, stress, and pain were measured before and after the intervention in both groups. Outcomes and results: The results of analysis of covariance showed that after controlling the mean score of pretest of pain, the mean score of post-tests in the intervention and control groups was significantly different (P < 0.05). The mean scores of physical health and total QOL scores of post-tests in the intervention group were significantly higher than the control group with controlling pretest scores. Conclusions and implications: Designed web-based intervention affects the caregivers' QOL and pain significantly. This intervention can be used to provide daily care training for mothers of children with CP.

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Background/Aims The ability to eat and drink is the most important factor in health, survival and longevity. Children with cerebral palsy can suffer from severe dysphagia, which can lead to a high risk of aspiration and choking. As classifying eating and drinking ability in children with cerebral palsy is important in research and treatment, the aim of this study was to determine the cross-cultural validation and reliability of the Persian version of the Eating and Drinking Ability Classification System. Methods After translation procedures, the face validity, content validity, test–retest reliability and interrater reliability of the Eating and Drinking Ability Classification System were evaluated. In total, 130 parents of children with cerebral palsy and 34 therapists participated in the evaluation of the scale's reliability. The 73 boys and 57 girls with cerebral palsy were aged 3–20 years (mean age 4.4 years) and had various types of cerebral palsy. They were classified according to the Eating and Drinking Ability Classification System by both their parents and the therapists. Results The overall results indicated that the words and sentences used were simple, clear, understandable, relevant and necessary. The intraclass correlation coefficients for test–retest reliability for parents, occupational therapists and speech therapists were 0.98, 0.98 and 0.995, respectively. The interrater reliability between parents and occupational therapists was 0.96, between parents and speech therapists was 0.95, and between occupational therapists and speech therapists was 0.985. Conclusions The Persian version of the Eating and Drinking Ability Classification System seems to be valid and reliable. This system may be used to evaluate children with cerebral palsy.

Comparing time use patterns and self-efficacy in two groups of mothers, including mothers of children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) and mothers of children with typical development, is the main objective of this study. Methods: This study was carried out in 2017 in Arak, Iran, on 200 mothers. Multiple sources of the evaluation, including Mothers' Time Use Questionnaire and Sherer General Self-efficacy Questionnaire, were used. SPSS v. 22 software was used to analyze the data. Results: The Mean±SD age of children was 4.64±1.46 years in the group of children with CP and 4.64±1.47 in the group of children with typical development. Significant differences were found between groups in the amount of time spent in various occupations, including self-care, childcare and household, leisure, rest/sleep, and work. Mothers of children with CP significantly spent a bigger proportion of time on "rest/sleep" and "childcare and household" areas (P<0.001). However, mothers of children with typical development spent significantly more time in "Self-care" (P=0.01), "Leisure" (P<0.001), and "Work" (P<0.001) areas. Also, significant differences were found between groups in the level of satisfaction. Discussion: Lower total score of the time use questionnaire in the group of mothers of children with CP might be because of the nature of limitations and the negative burden of this type of disease in terms of socio-cultural and fewer health system services.

Background/Aims Caregivers perform an important role but caring affects other roles they perform, resulting in poor time management and reduced quality of life. This study aimed to compare the time-use patterns and self-efficacy of caregivers of two groups of patients with chronic disease: those with a diagnosis of mental illness and those without a diagnosis of mental illness. Methods Family caregivers of patients with a chronic disease who were aged between 20–60 years, resident in Arak, not taking care of another patient and literate were eligible to participate. The presence of mental illness was based on a psychiatrist's diagnosis at least 6 months before the study. The Mothers' Time Use Questionnaire, Sherer Self-efficacy Scale and a demographic questionnaire were used to capture data relating to time-use, self-efficacy and participant characteristics. Data were analysed using independent t-test and Mann–Whitney U test to identify and compare time-use patterns and self-efficacy. Results There were no significant between-group differences in demographics or mean time-use scores in six domains (rest/sleep, leisure, housework, work/occupation, social participation and satisfaction with time management). Self-care time-use scores (time, quality, importance and enjoyment) were significantly higher for caregivers of patients with chronic disease with a diagnosis of mental illness. Patient care time-use scores were significantly higher for caregivers of patients with chronic disease without a diagnosis of mental illness. Mean self-efficacy score was significantly higher in the group caring for patients with a diagnosis of psychiatric disease. Conclusions Chronic physical illnesses may result in greater dependence on caregivers than mental illness, increasing the amount of time spent on care and reducing caregiver self-efficacy.