Burden, needs, and attitudes of parents of children with cerebral palsy in a middle-income country.

Aim: To assess the attitudes, needs, and burden of parents of children with cerebral palsy (CP) in southeast Nigeria. Subjects and methods: This ethics-approved cross-sectional survey involved 90 consenting parents of children with CP who were consecutively recruited from physiotherapy outpatient clinics of purposively selected tertiary hospitals in southeast Nigeria. Participants' attitudes, burden, and needs were respectively assessed using the Parents' Attitude Scale, the Modified Caregivers Strain Index (MCSI), and the Family Needs Assessment Questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation, and Mann–Whitney U, and Kruskal–Wallis tests were used to analyse the data at an alpha level of 0.05. Results: Participants were significantly burdened (mean MCSI score = 15.76±5.21) with at least 64.4% of them having significant strain in each assessed life situation. At least 50.0% of participants indicated needing helps in each assessed area while 26.7% had negative attitudes. There were significant correlations between participants' attitudes and burden (rho = −0.48), attitudes and needs (rho = 0.57), and needs and burden (rho = −0.23). Burden (k = 13.31), needs (k = 44.96) and attitude (k = 35.95) varied with occupation. Age had significant correlation with burden (rho = 0.26) and attitudes (rho = −0.31). Gender did not have a significant influence on burden (U = 731.00), needs (U = 864.00), and attitudes (U = 832.50). Educational attainment did not have a significant correlation with burden (rho = 0.02), needs (rho = 0.21), and attitudes (rho = 0.10). Conclusion: Parents of children with CP had unmet needs and were substantially burdened, with a significant proportion exhibiting a negative attitude. Higher burden connoted higher needs and negative attitudes in this group. There is a need to improve caregivers' well-being, as this will understandably improve rehabilitation outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]