Features of the relation of mothers to their preschool child with cerebral palsy

We present the results of studies of the mothers’ perception of their preschool children with cerebral palsy (103 women, 22–46 years old, and 103 children 3–6 years old), relationship to his/her disease, future representation taking into account child gender and the severity of the disease. In our study, we used universal three-factor semantic differential by Ch. Osgood (adapted by D. D. Isaev) and questionnaire “Diagnosis of relation to a child’s illness” (by V. E. Kagan and I. P. Zhuravleva). We empirically confirmed that the parental relationship to the sick child, the representation of his/her future differs from the perception of a healthy child and depends on the sex of the child (p<0,05). We revealed that mothers of preschool children with CP (cerebral palsy) exhibit hypo- and anosognosic relation to the disease (they underestimate or deny the severity of the disease), which may be due to psychological defenses. These data suggest the need for correction of the parent-child relationship in the process of comprehensive rehabilitation of preschool children with cerebral palsy.

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