Families of children with cerebral palsy routine

Abstract

Cerebral palsy (CP) is caused by a neurological injury that affects the brain in its early development, producing essentially motor consequences. However, depending on the injured area, the individual may have cognitive impairment. Children with this disability need special care and require families' restructuring that allows the proper development of these individuals. On this basis we investigated the routine of families with children diagnosed with cerebral palsy. A Routine Inventory (RI) was applied to three mothers of children with CP treated at the Serviço Caminhar (Walking Service) of the Bettina Ferro de Souza University Hospital in Belém do Pará. The results showed that mothers of children with cerebral palsy tend to have most of their time to care for their children at the expense of devoting less time to themselves, including their health care. This behavioral pattern is generated by the influence of the motor impairment levels and the child's autonomy - the higher the motor impairment level, the lower the level of autonomy and the higher the mother's care overload.

Keywords:
routines; families; cerebral palsy