Abstract:SUMMARY
Family dynamics and social conditions were studied of 527 children with myelomeningocele aged four to 18 years from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden; the control group was a representative sample of 7792 children of the same age‐range and from the same countries. Information was obtained from postal questionnaires and from patients' charts. Overall, there were more similarities than differences between index and control families, the major difference occurring in measures related to the mothers' sit… Show more
“…A Swedish study from 1992 found differences according to severity of impairment on employment, as we did . A Nordic study from 1994 on children with myelomeningocele found that 66% of mothers of the disabled children were working or studying full‐time versus 77% of the mothers of children without disability. It is remarkable that the social welfare systems in the Nordic countries and Canada seem to succeed in keeping employment high for mothers even after they have given birth to a child with a disability.…”
AIM To analyse the social situation of parents who have a child with cerebral palsy (CP). METHOD This was a population-based longitudinal study with linkage to public registries.Parents of children with CP (n=3671) identified in the Danish CP Registry were compared with 17 983 parents of children without CP. Employment, income, cohabitation status, and presence of additional children were factors analysed during a follow-up period of 28 years. We followed parents from before their child was born and up to the age of 43 years of the child. INTERPRETATION The Danish welfare system seems to have succeeded in keeping parents in the labour market and living together with their child. Special attention needs to be paid to the financial situation of families with children with CP under 10 years of age.
RESULTSHaving a child with cerebral palsy (CP) changes the lives of parents. Speculation on the future of the child and how CP will affect everyday life is inevitable. Parents might stay at home and constantly support the child to ensure optimal development. The resources allocated to the child might be substantially more than expected. Less time and energy are left for personal care, 1 marital activities, and siblings. Parents of children with CP have higher levels of stress 2 and worse physical and psychological health, 3 compared with parents of children without disabilities. Research indicates that the burden of care is a matter of socio-structural constraints rather than emotional distress, 4 and that parents of severely disabled children continually create and sustain their personal resources in the early years of the child's life.
5The sparse literature about the process parents go through after having a children with CP, indicates that parental adaptation might change during childhood and adolescence.
“…A Swedish study from 1992 found differences according to severity of impairment on employment, as we did . A Nordic study from 1994 on children with myelomeningocele found that 66% of mothers of the disabled children were working or studying full‐time versus 77% of the mothers of children without disability. It is remarkable that the social welfare systems in the Nordic countries and Canada seem to succeed in keeping employment high for mothers even after they have given birth to a child with a disability.…”
AIM To analyse the social situation of parents who have a child with cerebral palsy (CP). METHOD This was a population-based longitudinal study with linkage to public registries.Parents of children with CP (n=3671) identified in the Danish CP Registry were compared with 17 983 parents of children without CP. Employment, income, cohabitation status, and presence of additional children were factors analysed during a follow-up period of 28 years. We followed parents from before their child was born and up to the age of 43 years of the child. INTERPRETATION The Danish welfare system seems to have succeeded in keeping parents in the labour market and living together with their child. Special attention needs to be paid to the financial situation of families with children with CP under 10 years of age.
RESULTSHaving a child with cerebral palsy (CP) changes the lives of parents. Speculation on the future of the child and how CP will affect everyday life is inevitable. Parents might stay at home and constantly support the child to ensure optimal development. The resources allocated to the child might be substantially more than expected. Less time and energy are left for personal care, 1 marital activities, and siblings. Parents of children with CP have higher levels of stress 2 and worse physical and psychological health, 3 compared with parents of children without disabilities. Research indicates that the burden of care is a matter of socio-structural constraints rather than emotional distress, 4 and that parents of severely disabled children continually create and sustain their personal resources in the early years of the child's life.
5The sparse literature about the process parents go through after having a children with CP, indicates that parental adaptation might change during childhood and adolescence.
“…A study comparing the family dynamics and social conditions of 527 Nordic families of 4-to 18-year-old children with myelomeningocele to a control group of 7792 children reported more similarities than differences between the families (Lie et al 1994). The majority of the scores on the measures were not statistically different across adolescents/young adults, mothers, fathers, and siblings in the three groups.…”
This study compared adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP) and their families to adolescents without physical disabilities and their families as the child enters and leaves adolescence (age ranges 13 to 15 years and 19 to 23 years). Families of 90 individuals with CP (42 females, 48 males) and 75 individuals without physical disabilities (34 females, 41 males) participated. They completed the Family Assessment Device, Life Situation Survey, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and Future Questionnaire. There were few differences in family functioning, life satisfaction, or perceived social support between the groups. Expectations of young adults with CP and parents of both adolescents and young adults regarding future independence and success were lower than the expectations of the control group. While the group results emphasize similarities between families during the two stages of adolescence, individual families and individual family members report specific challenges.
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