QUALITY OF LIFE IN MOTHERS OF CHILDREN WITH MICROCEPHALY IN THE NORTHEAST OF BRAZIL

Objective To evaluate the quality of life of mothers of children with microcephaly compared to the quality of life of mothers with children of the same age but with normal neuropsychomotor development (NPM). Method This study was a cross-sectional, comparative, analytical study held in a public reference service. Seventy-eight (78) mothers with children between birth and two years old, with and without changes in their NMP, were interviewed. The abbreviated Questionnaire for the Evaluation of Quality of Life (WHOQOL-bref) and a sociodemographic evaluation questionnaire, developed by the author, were used. The data were analyzed descriptively, evaluating the association between variables and correlation tests. Results Mothers of children with microcephaly showed lower scores for various quality of life domains, however there was only a statistically significant difference for the environmental domain (48.40 for the group of mothers of children with microcephaly vs. 57.13 for the group of mothers with children with normal NPM, P<0.02). It should be noted that there were also significant negative correlations between the majority obstetric variables, maternal age and quality of life scores. There was no significant association between the child9s age and such scores. Conclusion Children with neuropsychomotor variations have not influenced their mother9s quality of life, rather, the mother9s quality of life is affected predominantly by housing conditions and financial resources.