Psychosocial Distress And Satisfaction With Surgery Among Mothers Of Children With Cleft Deformity In Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence and correlates of psychiatric morbidity, psychosocial distress and satisfaction with surgery among mothers of children with cleft lip and cleft palate in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Methods: The study was a cross sectional study. Twenty four mothers of children with cleft deformity were recruited during a UPTH-Smile Train free cleft surgery program. General Health Questionnaire 12 item version (GHQ 12), Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS) and the Oslo 3 item social support scale were used to estimate the psychosocial health of the mothers. Statistical analysis was done with SPSS 17.0 and a p-value <0.05 was accepted as significant.
Results: About fifty eight percent of the subjects did not know the cause of their child's deformity, 66.7% had a psychiatric morbidity, while 29.2% rated their social support as poor. Majority (85.7%) of subjects with poor social support had a psychiatric morbidity. Mothers of children less than 24 months, maternal dissatisfaction with the child's speech and concealing the child' s deformity in social circumstances were associated with psychiatric morbidity (p<0.05). There was no statistically significant relationship between psychosocial distress and maternal satisfaction with the surgical intervention (p>0.05).
Conclusion: In sub Saharan Africa mothers of children with cleft deformity face diverse psychosocial The probable prevalence rate of anxiety and depressive disorders among the subjects was 25% and 41.7% respectively. challenges. Unfortunately, access to effective, formal and structured psychosocial interventions programs have not kept pace with the availability of services in other areas of the multidisciplinary management of cleft deformities.

Key words: cleft deformity, orofacial cleft, maternal psychosocial distress