Time Use in Mothers of Children with Cerebral Palsy: A Comparison Study

Abstract

The main goal of this study was to measure time spent in different activities by mothers who have children with cerebral palsy (CP), in comparison to mothers of healthy children. Methods: This study features a descriptive, cross-sectional and matched case control design. Sixty-seven mothers aged between 25 and 50 years based on inclusion and exclusion criteria were selected. The prototype of the Farsi translation of the Mothers' Time Use Questionnaire was used to measure the time allocations for different activities in both groups. Results: Mothers of children with CP spent more time in childcare activities and had a lower level of "satisfaction" in comparison with mothers who have healthy children (p < .05). There were no significant differences in other subtype activities between both groups, namely, paid work, leisure, household chores, and sleeping/resting (p > .05). Conclusion: There was an imbalance over time use between childcare activities and other subtype activities in mothers who have children with CP as compared to mothers with healthy children. Mothers with children who have CP require more attention, support, and special assistance from the government to meet their specific roles as mothers.

Life Balance of Mothers of Children with Cerebral Palsy

“…Rassafiani et al, indicated that mothers of the children with CP do not experience the required life balance in their daily affairs as they spend a lot of time on their children every day, which reduces their satisfaction about time use. Also, MCCPs reported lower satisfaction about their time management skills, compared with the mothers of healthy children [6]. Children with CP, and moderate to severe disabilities, almost need long-term and particular care and attention; since the caregivers of such children spend a lot of time on their regular and specific needs, such as bathing, moving, feeding, giving medical cares, dealing with educational and parenting affairs even in the school, they have limited time to consider their own needs [4].…”

“…Living in today's modern era requires doing different activities and occupations: work, rest, leisure and self care to meet personal, social, and familial needs [5]. To take care of a child with CP causes parents, especially mothers, ignore other aspects of life and do not experience some degrees of satisfaction in their daily activities [3] [4] [6].…”

“…Although it is necessary to raise knowledge about the negative outcomes of CP on the child and family to plan appropriate interventions for the medical team members such as occupational therapists, there are a few studies on the outcomes of having a child with CP on the life balance of caregivers, in Iran and worldwide. Studies reported the moderate quality of life of mothers of children with CP, and the negative effect of severity of CP and stress on the quality of life [3] Also, MCCPs face imbalance in different occupations and experience lower satisfaction in time management as they spend a lot of time to take care of their children [6]. Therefore, the risk of mental complications increases in the families over the time, which in turn, disrupts family relaxation and satisfaction, prevents International Journal of Clinical Medicine family members from normal life and their roles in the family, and exposes them to the risk of inconsistent and inefficient copping patterns [11].…”

Time Use of Mothers of Children With an Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Comparative Study

“…Studies have shown that time use of persons with disability and their caregivers are different from other people without disability [7][8][9]. Crowe and Florez (2011) stated that mothers of adolescents with disabilities allocate considerably more time to supervise their children compared to mothers who have children without disability.…”

Engagement of children with cerebral palsy in daily life

“…Iranska, majke dece sa CP provode više vremena sa njihovom decom nego majke dece tipičnog razvoja. 13 Stoga je važno analizirati kontekst, pratiti lične i sredinske barijere da bi se olakšala socijalna participacija dece sa CP i njihovih roditelja.…”