Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Caregivers of Children with Cerebral Palsy Attending Follow up at Neurology Clinic in TASH, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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Date

2021-11

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Addis Ababa University

Abstract

Background: Cerebral palsy (CP) is one of the most severe disabilities in childhood and makes heavy demands on health, educational, and social services as well as on families and children themselves. The complex and chronic nature of the multiple impairments that contribute to the diagnosis of CP has a substantial impact on the functional level and quality of life of the child, which, in turn, can result in a significant physical, financial, and psychological health burden on the family. Most parents of children with CP lack basic knowledge of the disease, its cause, prognosis, treatment modality, and outcome. There are also a limited number of studies Carrying out any intervention and evaluating the response of that intervention to parental knowledge of CP. The overall point of this study is to depict and analyze the knowledge, attitude, and practice of parents and guardians with CP in, Ethiopia where children who require neurologist assessment get referred to from all over the nation Methods: A hospital based descriptive cross-sectional study conducted on 144 Primary care givers of children with CP who are attending on follow-up at pediatrics neurology clinic. Every patient coming for follow up during the study period fulfilling the inclusion criteria were asked to be included in the study. The diagnosis of CP confirmed using the SCPE decision tree before inclusion to the study. The data obtained from the questionnaire was entered into the computer and analyzed using statistical package of social sciences (SPSS) 25. Binary logistic regression was used in assessing the effect of general characteristics on attaining the required knowledge, attitude and practice of care givers Result : In this study among 144 participant,137 were willing, making a response rate of 95.1% and 56.2% of the primary caregiver were mother and half of the participants were in the age group of 30-40 years and more than three-fourth of the participants were married and 28.6% of caregiver learned up to collage level and 51.1% caregiver had inadequate income and the overall Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Caregivers of Children with Cerebral Palsy attending Follow up at Neurology Clinic in TASH is (66%,64% and 34%) respectively. Conclusion : Caring for a child with cerebral palsy is a big task requiring mental fortitude and physical vitality as well as community involvement. In order to improve outcomes for children with CP and to maintain the health of caregivers, necessary support systems must be in place. Social welfare and other organizations should support mothers with cerebral palsy children to help lift the huge financial burden required for care of their children. Governments should also create an enabling and supportive environment through the establishment of rehabilitation centers and social protection policies for cerebral palsy children. A multi approach is needed to assist caregivers on all fronts to deal with day-to-day challenges.

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Keywords

Cerebral Palsy; primary care giver; knowledge; attitude; practice; Ethiopia

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