Mothers of children with an orofacial cleft: Satisfaction with motherhood and experience of stress

Annemieke Bos,Paula S Sterkenburg,Charlotte Prahl

doi:10.15761/docr.1000239

Abstract

Objective: To investigate and compare stress and satisfaction with motherhood of mothers of children with versus without an orofacial cleft. Setting: Cleft palate center and a child day care in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Participants: Seventy six mothers with children aged 0-4 years with clefts were included. The children were treated at the academic cleft palate center in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Fifty two mothers with children of similar age but with no orofacial cleft attending child day care comprised the comparator group. Main Outcome measures: Mean satisfaction with motherhood and scores for the stress were obtained from ‘Motherhood Satisfaction’ and ‘NOSI-k’ (Nijmeegse Ouderlijke Stress Index short form) questionnaires. Results: No significant difference was observed between the two groups on subscales or the overall ‘Motherhood Satisfaction’ and ‘NOSI-k’ questionnaires . Only an item regarding comfort consulting family/friends about concerns differed significantly. Regression analysis showed that the ‘Competence’ for the mothers of children with cleft palate and ‘Behavior Child’ in the child day care group were significant predictors of the ‘Satisfaction with Motherhood’ grade. Conclusions: Mothers of children with clefts did not differ substantively in their satisfaction with motherhood and they experienced the same stress level as mothers of children without cleft palates.

Highlights

Raising a child with a congenital craniofacial anomaly like a cleft lip and/or an alveolus cleft and/or a palate cleft brings many challenges [1,2,3]
No significant difference was observed between the two groups on subscales or the overall ‘Motherhood Satisfaction’ and ‘NOSI-k’ questionnaires
Regression analysis showed that the ‘Competence’ for the mothers of children with cleft palate and ‘Behavior Child’ in the child day care group were significant predictors of the ‘Satisfaction with Motherhood’ grade

Summary

Introduction

Raising a child with a congenital craniofacial anomaly like a cleft lip and/or an alveolus cleft and/or a palate cleft (orofacial cleft) brings many challenges [1,2,3]. The period immediately after birth is often a difficult time for parents of children with an orofacial cleft [8,9,10,11,12,13] This particular period may bring forth many different feelings [14,15,16]. Questions may arise about what went wrong during pregnancy, the uncertainty of having a future child with a congenital malformation, and uncertainty about the future and the quality of life of their child [17,18] All these feelings can potentially lead parents to experience stress [5,14,18,19]

Methods

Results

Conclusion