Quality of life in parents of children with cerebral palsy: is it influenced by the child's behaviour?

The aims of the presents study were: to examine the quality of life(QOL)of parents of children with cerebral palsy (CP) and to establish the possible effect of behaviour problems on their QOL. One-hundred children with CP, aged between 4 and 10 years, and both their parents were included in the study. Both parents completed the WHOQOL-BREF, to assess their QOL. A sample of 60 parents of healthy children was used as control group. The primary caregiver also completed the child bahviour checklist (CBCL). Parents of children with CP showed lower scores on physical and psychological domains than the control group on QOL. In the psychological domain the mothers of children with hemiplegia had the lowest scores. The mothers reporetd lower scores than the fathers for the physical domain in the group of children with hemiplegia. Children with hemiplegia showed exerternalizing scores, that could explain the poorer QOL scores of their mothers. In conclusions our results provide useful information on the QOL in families with different forms of CP, useful in planning interventions for the familiy of children with CP.