Effect of Child's Cerebral Palsy on the Mother: a Case Control Study in Ahvaz, Iran

SUMMARY Quality of life (QOL) in families can be affected when a child has cerebral palsy (CP). The aim of this research was to determine the effect of a child’s disability on the mother’s quality of life by comparing mothers of children with CP and mothers of normal children. Two sample groups were chosen from a total of 42 mothers to answer a short-form health survey (SF-36) questionnaire. The first group included 21 mothers of children with cerebral palsy who were referred to the speech therapy clinic of Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences in Ahvaz. The second group consisted of 21 mothers of normal children living in Ahvaz. T-tests by SPSS were used for statistical analysis. There were significant differences in all domains of QOL between mothers of healthy children and mothers of children with cerebral palsy (p=0.001). This research found that the quality of life of mothers of children with CP was significantly different compared to mothers of healthy children. Therefore, appropriate planning is necessary to improve their quality of life in different domains.