Parental Stress and Related Factors in Parents of Children with Cerebral Palsy

Abstract

Children with cerebral palsy display prominent motor dysfunction associated with other developmental disorders. Parenting a child with cerebral palsy presents a number of challenges and stresses. The first purpose of this study was to compare parental stress in parents of children with cerebral palsy to that in parents of children with typical development. The second purpose was to analyze the correlations between parental stress and parents' characteristics, the child's characteristics, the child's earliest age when rehabilitation was first commenced, and weekly frequency of rehabilitation for the child. A convenience sample of 63 parents of children with cerebral palsy (mean age of children, 4.3 ± 1.8 years) was recruited. Forty parents of children with typical development were recruited as a comparison group. All parents filled out the Chinese version of the Parenting Stress Index (PSI), which consists of child domain and parent domain scales. The scores reported by parents of children with cerebral palsy in the child domain, parent domain, and PSI total scale were significantly higher than those for parents in the comparison group. The child domain score was significantly correlated to the child's age and severity of motor disability. A significant correlation was also found between the parent domain score and the child's earliest age of commencing rehabilitation. The PSI total scale score was significantly associated with both the child's severity of motor disability and age of commencing rehabilitation. Clinical professionals should be concerned about parental stress in parents of children with cerebral palsy and provide resources to support such parents. We suggest some strategies to reduce parental stress by strengthening parents' child‐care skills.