Difficulties for mothers in using an early intervention service for children with cerebral palsy in Bangladesh

Abstract

Given the numbers of disabled children in Bangladesh and the lack of trained professionals, innovative forms of service delivery are required. The Bangladesh Protibondhi Foundation has developed an outreach parent training service based at two centres, one urban and one rural. Mothers are shown how to use pictorially based Distance Training Packages (DTP), which they take home. This paper presents findings concerning factors which seem to affect mothers' attendance with their children at DTP advisory sessions. The study followed 47 children with cerebral palsy, aged between 2 and 5.5 years, over a period of around 18 months. The main factors predicting higher attendance were the child's sex (i.e. boys were brought back more often), particularly in the rural area, and lower adaptation to the child reported by the mother. The problems described by mothers in using the DTP advisory service were economic (such as transport costs), cultural (such as mothers not being permitted out alone), and medical (such as the child having repeated fits). The implications for future service development are discussed.

Childhood Disability in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Overview of Screening, Prevention, Services, Legislation, and Epidemiology

“…McConachie et al 37,45 found that distance training packages along with mother-child groups were beneficial in improving maternal knowledge about disability-related services, reducing maternal stress, and improving interaction with their children.…”

“…20,21,27,37,48,[56][57][58] Even among these 8 studies, detailed information on sample-size estimation was provided by only 2 research groups. 56,58 It is possible that the authors of these studies had performed these calculations but did not report them in the articles that were reviewed.…”

“…[26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] Some studies focused on the parents of children with disabilities and tried to assess their needs and attitudes with respect to disability. [34][35][36] Among the others, 3 studies [37][38][39] were clinic based, with a primary focus on the epidemiology and available services for cerebral palsy. One group of investigators 40 used participants from clinics and special institutions, and a control group of normal children, to assess maternal risk factors for disability.…”

“…20 Only a few studies discussed both bias and confounding. 16,18,20,21,27,37,48 Case-Control Studies Among the 5 case-control studies, 3 examined etiologic factors. [49][50][51] Matching was used in some of the casecontrol studies.…”

Description of Prosocial Behavior in Young Children With Intellectual Disability in East Nusa Tenggara

“…Positive social skills will bring great impact to the development of children, especially when entering the community as adults. Developing comprehensive programs that address specific environmental risk factors while providing appropriate levels of social protection and integrated and affordable basic services are important to reduce environmental risk factors for young children with disabilities and also support their development process (Due, Bunga, & Kiling, 2014;Engle et al, 2007;Lansdown, 2005;McConachie et al, 2001;UNICEF, 2012).…”