Mental health status among parents of children with cerebral palsy

Objective To examine mental health status in the parents of children with cerebral palsy (CP) and to provide references for welfare policy-making by related governmental agencies and rehabilitation departments.Methods Using stratified cluster random sampling,304 parents of CP children were recruited at 3 rehabilitation centers or hospitals in 5 cities of Shanxi province and self-administered with a general questionnaire and Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90).Results Compared with those of the national norms,the parents of CP children had significantly higher SCL-90 scores in additional other items (154.25±44.94),positive items (38.26±20.01),somatization (1.74±0.70),obsessive compulsive (1.90±0.71),depression (1.91±0.77),anxiety (1.62±0.64),hostility (1.82±0.69),phobic anxiety (1.52±0.62),paranoid ideation (1.64±0.68),psychoticism (1.62±0.71)(P<0.05 for all),except for interpersonal sensitivity (1.75±0.70).There were significant differences in all SCL-90 domain scores among the parents of the children with various severity of CP,except for the score of hostility.The results of multivariate regression analysis indicated that health condition,monthly household income per capita,gender,marital status,and residential area had influences on mental health status of the parents.Conclusion Mental health level of parents of cerebral palsy children is lower than those of normal children and influenced by the CP severity of child's,health condition,monthly household income per capita,gender,marital status,and residential area of the parents.