A Survey on knowledge and application of caregivers regarding special care of children 1-5 years old with cerebral palsy

Introduction:The purpose of this study was to assess what caregivers know about special caring practices for cerebral palsied children aged between one and five years and to what extent they apply such knowledge in their daily contacts with such children.Materials and Methods: To conduct this cross-sectional and descriptive-analytic study, a questionnaire was first designed and then validated through six phases. A sample of 70 caregivers in three rehabilitation centers of Tehran, Iran participated in the study. Descriptive statistics and Spearman'scorrelation coefficient were calculated for statistical analysis of the data using SPSS software version 16.Results: 61 participants (87.1% of total respondents) self-rated their knowledge about special caring as low to moderate. Actual testing of participants’ knowledge about special caring practices showed that sixty-six of them (94.3 %) had low to moderate knowledge in this regard. Based on their reports, 27.1% of these participants had not had any training regarding special caring methods for above-mentioned children. They, as a whole, had not received any training for various aspects of such practices.Their educational history showed that the training had mostly focused on mobility (57.1 %) with the least attention to toileting (20.0%). Conclusion: The majority of the participants had low to moderate levels of knowledge about how to take care of a child with cerebral palsy professionally. These results emphasized the need for revising training programs specific to professional caring methods. Moreover, caregivers should attend workshops and seek educational pamphlets to increase their knowledge about such methods. The workshops may focus on teaching toileting, mobility and carrying techniques.Keywords: Special care, Cerebral palsy, Occupational therapy, Knowledge, Teaching