Level of depression of mothers of children with cerebral palsy (CP)

Abstract

Abstract Mother of children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) plays an essential role in the successful rehabilitation of their children which may affect their mental health. The aim of this study is to find out the level of depression of mothers of children with CP. The objectives are to find out socio-demographic characteristics, common depressive symptoms, level of depression of the mothers and also to find out the association between socio-demographic characteristics and severity of depression of mothers. A cross sectional study was conducted in the pediatric unit of Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) at Savar and Mirpur. 110 participants were included in conveniently. Socio-demographic questionnaire, Depression Scale-DS was used for data collection and analysis was done by using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 17.0. In this study, it was found that most of the participants‟ (43.6%) were 21-25 years, 39.1% (n=43) had education up to secondary school, 93.6% (n=103) were married, 92.7% (n=102) were Muslim, 41.8 % (n=46) came from urban areas, 40.0 % (n=44) took care their children for 6-10 hours, 50.9% (n=56) had only one child and 63.6% (n=70) came from middle socio-economic status. In case of common depressive symptoms, crying was very common 49.1% (n=54), 42.7% (n=47) participants reported low mood and 38.2% (n=42) reported lack of pleasure. Moreover, mostly (61.8%) had minimal level of depression. There were significant association between educational status (p> .013), marital status (p> .002) and socioeconomic status (p>.032) with level of depression of the participants. In conclusion, it seems that having a CP child lead to maternal depression so, to improve rehabilitation processes psychological support for mothers is needed.